INDEPENDENT . INCISIVE . ANALYTICAL
weeklycuttingedge.com May 16-31 2019 Vol# 14 Issue # 19 Rs. 100
Diplomacy Pak-China ties: New horizons Prime Minister Imran Khan’s four-day visit to China besides writing a new chapter in Pak- China relations, proved an occasion to present to the world the image of Naya Pakistan – dem - ocratic, dynamic and dedicated to the welfare of its people. It was Prime Minister Imran Khan’s second official tour of China with focus on multiple objectives.
Nasim Ahmed Pg 05
Divide
Fears after Sri Lankan attacks
The recent terror attacks have widened ethnic and religious divides in Sri Lanka. Christians fear more attacks and Muslims face reprisals from them and the government, which has Cover Story given a new dimension to violence in the coun - try. Experts say the Easter Sunday attacks have brought the island nation to the forefront of the global terrorism discourse. Over to IMF Shahid Hussain Shahid Hussain Page 4 Pg 10
Roundup
Our guide to keeping you updated on the latest news and reviews from around the world.
Art and Culture. Film. Books. Health. Science Pg 23
Editor: Dr. Niloufer Mahdi
Index CUTTING EDGE
Viewpoint Page 4 Economics Page 15 Over to IMF Unsustainable public debt
Education Page 5 Diplomacy Page 16 Pak-China ties: New horizons Shortage of teachers in South Punjab Colleges Debate Page 6 Curbs Page 18 The shrinking frontiers of press The way forward for Pakistan freedom Apathy Conflict Page 19 Page 7 The PTM problem After Nishwa’s death
Digital marketing Inflation Page 20 Page 8 Constraints in IT industry of Pakistan The vicious cycle of price hike Initiative Trade Page 21 Page 9 Belt and Road Forum opportunities Gains from the Belt and Road Initiative Your View Page 22 Divide Letters to the editor from Page 10 our readers Fears after Sri Lankan attacks Round Up Page 23 Transition Books & movies, Health, Science Page 11 PML-N breaks free from Sharifs?
Page 12 Terror Cutting Edge Daesh in South Asia Editor Strategy Dr. Niloufer Mahdi Page 13 Layout Design Unelected advisers and system’s viability Rizwan Ahmad Communication Manager Page 14 Analysis Usman Riaz The massive revenue shortfall Correspondence: [email protected] Admin/Marketing Muhammad Atique Circulation Manager Please send your letters to Samsoon Masih [email protected] Ediorial Office: or post to Treet Corporation Limited “Your View”, 2-H, Gulberg-II, Lahore Treet Corporation Limited Phone +92-42-35817141-47, Fax: +92-42-35817138 2-H, Gulberg-II, Lahore [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Readers are welcome to Printed by Creative Vorks, write for the paper. Plot# 203, Green Light Street, Please include Mughal Park, Bund Road, Lahore. full name and address. For subscription, please contact [email protected]
May 16-31, 2019 Economics Over to IMF
Shahid Hussain
In a significant development, the government has removed the State According to a new document prepared by the World Bank, titled Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor and the Federal Board of Revenue Pakistan Revenue Mobilisation Project, Pakistan has substantial po - (FBR) chairman. The appointment of two International Monetary tential to increase tax receipts without imposing new taxes or increas - Fund (IMF) experts in their place is being seen by the opposition as ing their rates. The country’s tax revenue potential would reach 26pc handing over the economy to foreigners while the government claims of GDP, if tax compliance were to be raised to 75pc, which is a real - it will bridge widening financial gaps in the country. istic level of compliance for lower middle income countries. This The changes were expected after the removal of Finance Minister means that Pakistan’s tax authorities are currently capturing only half Asad Umar. It is said the sacking of the two key officials had been of the revenue potential — the gap between actual and potential re - decided even before showing the door to the former finance minister. ceipts is 50pc, it noted. SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa was asked to resign while he was in Is - Dr. Reza Baqir of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been lamabad for talks with the IMF. The development came on a day appointed governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to serve for when Prime Minister Imran Khan had hinted at further changes in his a three-year term. He has worked with the IMF for the last 16 years. cabinet in the days ahead. However, no official reason was given for He has been the chief of the IMF’s Debt Policy Division and worked his dismissal. There was no indication from the government that it on IMF policies on external debt sustainability and restructuring of was unhappy with his performance. The SBP governor and the FBR member countries. He has also helped design debt and fiscal policies chairman are key players in any IMF programme. The governor is ac - for crisis-hit countries like Greece and Ukraine, among others. Before tually one of the signatories to any programme while the FBR chair - the IMF, Dr. Baqir worked at the World Bank, the Massachusetts In - man is tasked with meeting the revenue target. stitute of Technology and the Union Bank of Switzerland. However, both former Finance Minister Asad Umar and Prime Syed Shabbar Zaidi, a Karachi-based partner in the chartered ac - Minister Imran Khan had given public statements expressing their counting firm A.F. Ferguson, was appointed the new chairman of the disappointment with the performance of former FBR Chairman Ja - Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). He is the third person from the pri - hanzeb Khan. The performance of the department was so pathetic vate sector to hold the post. The decision did not go down well at the under him that Prime Minister Imran Khan once threatened to dis - FBR where the Inland Revenue Officers Association issued a harsh band it and make a new authority to collect taxes. In his tenure, the statement and threatened to move court against it. Spelling out his FBR faced the highest revenue shortfall in Pakistan’s history. The fig - priorities, Zaidi promised to build trust between the state and the tax - ures during the first nine months of the current fiscal year show that payer. “This is done through automation, minimising contact between aggregate revenue under the income tax, sales tax and federal ex - tax man and taxpayer, and by promoting a voluntary compliance that cise duty was Rs2.186 trillion, posting a shortfall of Rs303 billion will automatically lead to base broadening. The term “base broaden - against the Rs2.488tr target set for the period. However, during the ing” has been overused. Once we take the steps, they will automati - same period, custom collections surpassed the set target of cally lead to base broadening,” he added. He called the system Rs509.3b, clocking in at Rs510.11b. Despite buoyancy in the cus - “anti-tax” and said he wanted to change it. toms collection, it is estimated that the annual shortfall in revenue Reacting to the new appointments, the Pakistan Muslim League- collection from all taxes will be around Rs450b by the end of the on - Nawaz (PML-N) and the Peoples Party (PPP) have feared that the going fiscal year. country’s nuclear programme could come under threat after the ap - Income tax revenues, including those collected at the import pointment of “IMF representatives”. They claimed the government stage, recorded a shortfall of Rs178b after total collections clocked had handed over the country to “the East India Company”, a refer - in at Rs984b against the target of Rs1.162tr for the period under re - ence to the British trade company through which Britain established view. Sales tax collection posted a shortfall of Rs116b as the rev - its rule in the Indian sub-continent in the 18th century. They said it enues reached Rs1.039tr against the target of Rs1.155tr projected appeared the IMF was relocating its offices to Pakistan. for the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Federal excise duty On the other hand, the government believes the new appoint - collections also posted a shortfall of Rs8b as revenue collected ments will steer Pakistan out of the economic crisis. Experts say reached to Rs163b against the target of Rs171b projected for the Prime Minister Imran Khan has realized that the economy needs the same period. Poor revenue collection during the ongoing fiscal year help of experts, instead of politicians. The appointment of experts as is worrying since the tax base was already eroded by Rs90b shortfall finance minister, SBP governor and FBR chairman may not be good in last fiscal year’s collections. During the previous fiscal year, total for the people of the country, because they would end subsidies for collections clocked in at Rs3.844tr against the target of Rs3.935tr. them, but put the country on the path to self-reliance.
04 May 16-31, 2019 Diplomacy Pak-China ties: New horizons
Nasim Ahmed
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s four-day visit to China besides writing a new chapter in Pak-China relations, proved an occasion to present to the world the image of Naya Pakistan – democratic, dynamic and dedicated to the wel - fare of its people. It was Prime Minister Imran Khan’s second official tour of China with focus on multiple objectives. During the visit, he interacted with leaders of various countries gathered there and also exchanged views with heads of various in - ternational financial institutions. The basic objective was to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum but it was an opportunity to engage more deeply with the Chinese leadership in the joint compact to advance the goals of regional and global peace and progress. Prime Minister Imran Khan held meetings with China’s top leadership, in - cluding President Xi Jinping and Pemier Li Keqiang. The two sides also en - gaged in delegation-level talks. Reaffirming the “All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership” between Pakistan and China, the two leaders ex - changed views on the entire range of bilateral ties. They affirmed the resolve years to mitigate the effects of climate change for the coming generations. to further strengthen their strategic cooperative partnership in all fields includ - Imran Khan also suggested the establishment of a BRI tourism corridor to pro - ing political, security, economic and trade, and people-to-people exchanges. mote people-to-people contacts and inter-cultural understanding. Thirdly, he Both sides expressed satisfaction over the close cooperation between the two said an anti-corruption cooperation should be set up to combat the scourge countries at multilateral fora and resolved to further deepen communication of white-collar crime which is devastating the world. and coordination at all levels. They also agreed to keep up the momentum of Another major proposal given by the Pakistan premier was to create a high-level exchanges between the two countries. poverty alleviation fund that would supplement national efforts in the fight In the talks with Chinese leadership, the CPEC was naturally at the top of against poverty and malnourishment. In this connection, he referred to Pak - the agenda. On behalf of Pakistan, PM Imran conveyed unflinching commit - istan’s targeted poverty alleviation programme called “Ehsas”. He said his ment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. In this context, the two government’s aim was to emulate China’s spectacular success in lifting 800 sides discussed the mega infrastructure project’s extension into new areas of million people out of poverty within a matter of decades. Lastly, Imran Khan agriculture, industrial development, and socio-economic uplift. Imran Khan called for concerted efforts to further liberalise trade and investment flows, en - assured his Chinese hosts that Pakistan would always support China on all couraging the private sector and businesses to collaborate in development issues of its core interest. The premier thanked President Xi for China’s stead - projects. fast support to Pakistan on all issues of regional and international importance. Talking about BRI, Imran Khan said that the initiative offers a model of col - President Xi also reiterated China’s unwavering support to Pakistan’s sov - laboration, partnership, connectivity and shared prosperity for all nations. He ereignty and territorial integrity, and appreciated the PTI government’s agenda pointed out that Pakistan was among the BRI’s “earliest and most enthusiastic for socio-economic development and people-centered progress. He asserted proponents”, and spoke of the “substantial progress” achieved on the China- that China-Pakistan ties would continue to acquire greater strength, and prac - Pakistan Economic Corridor. The PM’s visit also confirmed that Pakistan and tical cooperation would be increased over time. The two sides also exchanged China are entering the next phase of the CPEC, with greater emphasis on views on the regional situation, including Afghanistan and South Asia. Presi - socio-economic uplift, poverty alleviation, agricultural cooperation and indus - dent Xi appreciated Pakistan’s sustained and successful efforts in the fight trial development against terrorism, so as to create a peaceful neighbourhood. PM Imran Khan explained to the gathering of the world leaders that it was Leaders from 37 countries and delegations from over 100 countries par - a privilege for Pakistan to be an early partner of China. He said that under the ticipated in the BRI Forum. In his keynote speech at the forum’s opening cer - CPEC project Pakistan was building highways, modernising railroads, setting emony, Imran Khan called for greater attention towards tackling climate up power plants, establishing a port, and setting up Special Economic Zones. change and poverty, while urging world leaders to undertake joint efforts to The connectivity of Gwadar Port with China’s Xinjiang region will provide a address impediments in the way of sustainable global growth. In his address shorter route for China’s imports compared to the South China Sea and re - Imran Khan presented five proposals to further expand China’s Belt and Road duce the cost for Chinese companies, and develop western regions of the Initiative. He proposed joint efforts to mitigate climate change and urged world Asian giant. All in all, it was most fruitful visit, opening new doors for multidi - leaders to launch a joint project to plant 100 billion trees over the next two mensional cooperation between the two countries.
May 16-31, 2019 05 Curbs The shrinking frontiers of press freedom
Nasim Ahmed
May 3 is observed as World Press Freedom Day every year. The day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference. Since then, May 3, the anniversary of the declaration is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day. The day offers an opportunity to: • celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; • assess the state of press freedom throughout the world; • defend the media from attacks on their independence; • and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Every year a special theme is chosen for the day. The 2019 theme is Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinforma - tion. While observing the day, the Committee for Protection of Journalists said the at least 1,340 journalists have been killed in relation to their work worldwide since 1992. The theme aligns with the Sustainable Develop - ment Goals (SDG) set by the UN General Assembly in 2015. SDG 16, for vestigators are still no closer to expose those responsible for the act. example, concerns issues of peace and democracy as preconditions for At least 250 journalists were imprisoned across the world simply for equitable and sustainable development. It states “When freedom of ex - doing their job, according to CPJ's 2018 prison census. There has also pression and safety of journalists are protected, the media can play a vital been an uptick in journalists imprisoned on "false news" charges, with 19 role in preventing conflict and in supporting peaceful democratic cases in Egypt, followed by Cameroon with four, Rwanda with three, and processes.” SDG 16.10 also urges states to “ensure public access to in - one each in China and Morocco. The world's worst jailers of journalists formation and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national continue to be Turkey, China, and Egypt. The three countries combined legislation and international agreements.” were responsible for more than half of those jailed around the world. According to the International Federation of Journalists, in 2018 alone, During this year, social media was blocked in Sri Lanka following recent at least 94 journalists were killed. The 2018 data indicates an increase terror attacks. A radio station and show hosts were sued for defamation in from the previous year which concluded with 82 fatalities. The most dan - Liberia, Russian police beat at least 1 journalist, arrest 2 during May Day gerous countries for journalists in 2018 were Afghanistan with 16 fatalities protests in St. Petersburg. As unfolding events show, the contribution of and Mexico with 11, followed by Yemen with 9, Syria with 8 and India with free, pluralistic, independent and safe journalism to democracy is under 7. The data, presented by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), identifies unprecedented threat today. The World Press Freedom Day comes as a slightly lower numbers of fatalities at 80 (with 49 deliberately killed and 31 reminder that society as a whole has to do more to protect journalists who killed while reporting). The RSF report further confirms that three journal - act as guardians of public interest. ists were reported missing, 60 held hostage and 348 detained. RSF names To respond to some of the challenges facing the press, only a few Afghanistan as the most dangerous place for journalists with 15 fatalities, weeks before the World Press Freedom Day, British Foreign Secretary Je - followed by Syria with 11, Mexico with 9, Yemen with 8 and the US and remy Hunt and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland launched a India with 6 each. Despite the difference in figures, both agree that 2018 joint initiative “Defend Media Freedom” that aims to shine a spotlight on witnessed an increase in such fatalities and the level of threat to journalists. media abuses and address the trend of violence against journalists. On Journalists' safety is under serious threat in conflict areas. However, July 10-11, 2019, the UK and Canada will host the International Confer - various reports feature many countries without reputations for active armed ence on Media Freedom to further the aims of the joint campaign. conflicts. In the US, for example, four journalists employed by the Capital Another initiative that needs to be mentioned is Trial Watch, launched Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, were killed on June 28, 2018, when a man by the Clooney Foundation for Justice in cooperation with the Office of the walked in and opened fire. Recent years have shown that even strong and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the American Bar stable European countries do not escape violence against journalists. For Association, Columbia Law School and Microsoft. Among others, the ini - example, in October 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist tiative will monitor trials of journalists around the world to ensure that the exposing government corruption and misconduct by Maltese politicians judicial system is not used to silence journalists and curtail freedom of and Panama Papers, was murdered in a car bomb attack in Malta, a place speech. Ensuring the safety of journalists is the only way we can foster the considered to be peaceful and safe. Nineteen months later, Maltese in - independence and freedom of the press which is crucial for democracy.
06 May 16-31, 2019 Conflict The PTM problem
Muhammad Hassan
The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has started lodging but the manner adopted by the PTM to voice the grievances would no cases against leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) for in - longer be tolerated. Addressing a press conference at the General citing people to revolt against the state. Headquarters, the head of the military's media wing also suggested It started after the army had hinted at taking legal action against the that the PTM had received funding from Afghan and Indian intelligence PTM leadership for playing in the hands of the enemy, working against services. “We want to do everything for the people of tribal areas, but national interests and inciting people against national institutions a few those who are playing in the hands of people, their time is up,” he weeks ago. It appears the establishment has run out of patience after warned. However, he clarified that neither people would face any sort silently watching the activities of the organization for years. There is no of problem nor any unlawful path be adopted. doubt that the enemies of Pakistan are supporting it to create unrest in In his reaction, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Pakistan. The movement has largely been peaceful, as it was a calcu - Bhutto Zardari said the ISPR should not issue statements on political lated move to attract the world attention towards it, without fearing for matters. “Offering political narrative through the ISPR DG has rendered action from the authorities. However, it has reached a point where it the institute controversial and the PPP does not want this to happen. was needed to stop. The main demands of the PTM include demining Policies of ministries should be handled by related ministers,” he told a of the former tribal areas and greater freedom of movement there, an press conference. end to killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detentions, and Government and military officials have met PTM leaders several for their practitioners to be held to account within a truth and reconcili - times and heard their grievances patiently. They have assured them of ation framework. resolving their issues but it will take time. The army has formed 48 Launched in the name of highlighting grievances of Pashtuns, there teams and 45pc of the areas have been demined. In the process, 101 are visible signs that enemies are using the movement to harm Pak - soldiers have lost their lives. Their demand of clearing away check- istan. They want to act it like the Mukti Bahini to create a new posts cannot be accepted abruptly because the army has lost thou - Bangladesh in Pakistan. However, they are grossly mistaken. It is nei - sands of soldiers at the critical positions. The issue of missing persons ther 1971 nor the Pakistan army is the same. It has successfully elim - is their third demand and the government has set up a commission to inated the Taliban from its territory, which received training and funding resolve it. abroad. If the PTM resorts to violence, it will be crushed with an iron Prime Minister Imran Khan also endorsed the PTM demands but hand. said its manner was not good for the country. Addressing a public gath - Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called the PTM ering in the Orakzai tribal district, he acknowledged people had to face leadership “hybrid warriors” in the past and expressed his institution’s difficulties and migrate to other areas during the counterterrorism op - resolve to fight them on every front. In his latest remarks, he said the erations in the tribal areas but added that innocents were also killed in PTM was not an issue itself but certain individuals playing in foreign wars. But "how will it benefit Pakistan and the tribal areas to turn people hands were exploiting the sentiments of people who had suffered hard - who have been through pain against their army and raise slogans like ships because of terrorism. “The issues being highlighted by the move - this?" he asked. ment are genuine and natural in the post-operation environment. It is clear that the Pakistan army could not be blamed for the de - However, few individuals playing in foreign hands are by design exploit - struction caused in the tribal region. Successive governments also ing sentiments of the people who have actually suffered at the hands failed to provide basic facilities to locals, because the areas were not of terrorism and now need care,” he told a gathering of students re - in the mainstream. After the merger of the tribal areas into the Khyber cently. He stressed that both government and security forces were Pakhtunkhwa province, it is a big challenge for the government to find working to address the genuine issues of the residents of tribal areas. ways to improve people’s lives and provide them with all basic neces - “For us, progress towards enduring peace through socio-economic de - sities. velopment comes first and we shall fail all inimical forces and their con - The army believes the PTM is receiving money from the NDS spiracies trying to undo our gains,” he vowed. Lauding the efforts of the (Afghan National Directorate of Security) and India's Research and Pakistani nation and the armed forces for defeating terrorism, the Army Analysis Wing (RAW). However, legal action will be taken against the Chief said it was time "to have its dividends through socio-economic PTM leaders instead of another military operation in the tribal areas. development in which education is the most important". It was the first Enemies of Pakistan want an armed conflict in the country. They are time since last August that General Bajwa had directly addressed the inciting locals for their own benefits. The locals should understand that issue. confrontation would not resolve their issues. They will have to wait for Earlier, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj some years to benefit from their new status. The federal and provincial Gen Asif Ghafoor said the Pakistan Army wanted to make an all-out ef - governments should also expedite the process of the provision of basic fort to resolve the issues faced by Pashtuns in the erstwhile tribal areas, rights to people to avoid unrest in the areas.
May 16-31, 2019 07 Inflation The vicious cycle of price hike
Muhammad Ali
A massive hike in fuel prices has added to inflation, which had already milk. Besides, all provincial governments have set up Ramazan bazaars surged to an unprecedented level before Ramazan. The first nine months to provide essentials to people at subsidized rates. The expenditure on of the government have only piled misery on the common people and they the bazaars runs into billions of rupees. However, shoppers complain of have reached the conclusion that it has no qualms about overburdening low quality and overcharging at the bazaars. Prices of all fruit and veg - them and leaving them at the mercy of profiteers and hoarders. etables had increased by 50pc to 100pc, weeks before the beginning of It is a common phenomenon in Pakistan that prices of all essentials Ramazan. Profiteering and overcharging is rampant in all markets, includ - increase before Ramazan and they do not come down throughout the ing Ramazan bazaars, but the provincial governments have failed to take year despite raids by price control magistrates. However, the start of Ra - effective measures. mazan this year was even harsher than the previous years for the com - Consumer prices, influenced by faster rupee depreciation and hike in mon people, as the government allowed a massive increase in the prices energy prices, increased to their highest level in five years in March, ac - of petroleum products a day before the holy month. Petrol has increased cording to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Inflation, measured through by Rs9.42 and kerosene by Rs7.46 per litre. The new prices of petrol and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), surged to 9.4pc in March 2019, the pe - kerosene are Rs108.31 and Rs96.77, respectively. The Oil and Gas Reg - riod when global oil prices started rising, undermining earlier gains in the ulatory Authority (OGRA) had suggested the price of petrol be increased country. Over the past three months, prices of vegetables, fruits and meat by Rs14.37 per litre, but the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), have posted persistent increase in major urban centres. The average in - headed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez flation during the July-March period rose by 6.79pc on a yearly basis. Sheikh, approved an increase of Rs9.34 per litre. Prices of crude oil in While the government had projected 6pc annual inflation for the current the international market are on the rise and more hikes are expected in financial year, it crossed the figure in February. coming months in Pakistan. The common people feel they are bearing the brunt of poor economic The devaluation of the rupee by almost 33pc and a constant rise in in - policies and immature decisions of the government. They say the artificial ternational oil prices forced the government to increase fuel rates. Higher price hike is the worst example of bad governance. They question the util - fuel prices mean a surge in rates of food, because diesel and petrochem - ity of so-called public representatives, who cannot develop an efficient ical-made fertiliser are used to grow it and petrol and diesel are used to price control system. It is a general impression among the people that transport it. Electricity costs will also jump because furnace oil is used by senior government officials, ministers and advisers, responsible for con - most power generation plants. Prices of vegetables and fruits will increase trolling and monitoring prices of essential commodities, visit markets and further as power bills of agriculture tube-wells would swell. bazaars with their official photographers for photo opportunities only. In Unlike other countries, where prices are reduced on festive occasions, Ramazan bazaars, vendors are selling second or third-grade fruit and the people of Pakistan face the ordeal of soaring prices ahead of Ra - vegetables at a premium price. In most makeshift markets, the majority mazan every year. In the absence of an effective price control mechanism, of seasonal fruit and vegetables are not available. Where available, they rates of all essential commodities, including fruit and vegetables, are are sold at higher rates than fixed by the government. jacked up and the government’s threats of crackdown on profiteers prove Experts say the price pressure has overburdened poor families in the hollow claims. Prices of all essentials had already gone through the roof holy month, when the demand for food and other daily-use items goes up when the government was finalising the Ramazan package. The price of even more. It is feared that the people will have to tighten their belts fur - sugar rose from Rs65 per kg to a new retail peak of Rs70. The price of ther, as inflation spikes and families have to make hard choices between sugar stood at Rs55 per kilo at the beginning of the year, rose to Rs58- putting enough food on the table and giving their children a decent edu - 60 per kilo in February, while in March it was being sold at Rs63 in retail cation. For those lower down the economic ladder, the situation is even markets. more serious. Instead of wasting billions of rupees on the Ramazan pack - Under the Rs2 billion Ramazan package, essential items are being age and bazaars, the federal and provincial governments should adopt provided to people at low rates at the Utility Stores. Subsidy is being given an effective mechanism to check prices if they aim to provide relief to peo - on 19 items, including flour, ghee, cooking oil, pulses, chickpea flour ple. After the 18th Amendment, price control is the duty of the provincial (bason), dates, rice, milk, soft drinks and spices. Rs59 subsidy is being governments. They should come up with an effective mechanism to break provided on a 20 kg bag of flour, Rs5 on per kilogram of sugar, Rs15 on the cycle of price hike, which intensifies ahead of Ramazan every year. It ghee, Rs10 on cooking oil, Rs30 on dates, Rs10 on spices, and Rs15 on will earn them blessings of people round the year.
08 May 16-31, 2019 Trade Gains from the Belt and Road Initiative
Muhammad Zain
Pakistan has immensely gained from the Belt and Road Forum in China. advanced fighters. Though the cost of that purchase and its source re - It has not only removed doubts about the second phase of the China-Pak - main a matter of speculation, many seasoned analysts have noted that a istan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but also opened 90pc of Chinese mar - Chinese aircraft supplier will likely win that contract. If true, that would kets to Pakistani goods. partially be driven by not only the affordability of Chinese military hard - The signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on the first Special ware by comparison to western suppliers but also a long history. Unlike a Economic Zone (SEZ) by China and Pakistan is being seen as a new country such as the United States, China has never blocked the supply phase of the CPEC. A new agreement on free trade between the two coun - of military hardware to Pakistan on any pretext. In sharp contrast, the US tries will allay the dominant fear that the free trade between the two coun - in 1990 suspended the sale of F16 fighter planes to Pakistan on the tries will harm Pakistani businesses. The new agreement on free trade grounds that the country was close to producing nuclear weapons. allows Pakistani goods to reach to 90pc of the Chinese market. It will open Pakistan’s emerging economic relationship with China under the huge opportunities for Pakistani exporters. Last year, the Chinese share CPEC and its history of defence ties with it have only helped cement Is - of Pakistani markets was $11.458 billion while Pakistani exports to China lamabad’s most important foreign relationship. Though Imran Khan chose were a mere $1.744 billion. The new agreement is expected to increase the right moment to compliment China for its support to Pakistan, his Pakistani exports by $500 million. It may not be a huge gain but an open words also reflect a powerful longer term reality. Any Pakistani leader in access to Chinese markets will benefit Pakistani traders in other ways. Imran Khan’s place would have chosen the moment to similarly praise Besides the two significant developments, the Chinese state will invest Beijing’s support to the country, the newspaper noted. $ 1 billion in 27 projects in Pakistan that the two sides have identified as Experts say Pakistan also needs to revamp its own house to sustain crucial for socio and economic development of Pakistan. The visit of the warmth in its relations with China. Fundamentally, the country needs Prime Minister Imran Khan to China has further cemented bilateral rela - to redefine the role of government in daily lives if it is to improve the role tions as China has promised to assist developing different sectors of the of the state in the economy. Even though the CPEC has been launched Pakistani economy. The Pakistan Railways will benefit the most. Pakistan as evidence of a new era, parts of the Pakistani state machinery continue will lay a double track from Peshawar to Karachi with China’s help. Trains to vastly underperform. In particular, the future of debt tied to CPEC-re - will run at speed of at least 160km/h on the track. It will also help the de - lated loans is an oft discussed matter in daily conversations. partment improve its freight service and earn profits after running into Meanwhile, the United States Defense Department has said that losses for decades. As the CPEC will enter its second phase, Pakistan is China seeks to establish military bases around the world to protect its in - poised to exploit the opportunities to their maximum. vestments in its ambitious One Belt One Road global infrastructure pro - For Pakistan, the stakes surrounding its relationship with China are gram, according to an official report. Beijing currently has just one also central to its future as the country pursues the CPEC with Beijing’s overseas military base, in Djibouti, but is believed to be planning others, backing. At least $60 billion earmarked for CPEC-related investments including possibly Pakistan, as it seeks to project itself as a global super - across Pakistan marks a historic milestone. Never before has a foreign power. “China’s advancement of projects such as the ‘One Belt, One power committed such a large investment in Pakistan during the nation’s Road’ Initiative (OBOR) will probably drive military overseas basing 72-year history, noted the Gulf News. The relationship also has a vital di - through a perceived need to provide security for OBOR projects,” the Pen - mension related centrally to global security interests which must be con - tagon said in its annual report to Congress on Chinese military and secu - sidered in gauging the relationship. Pakistan continues to maintain rity developments. However, there was no word from China or Pakistan security related ties with Washington, notably over events in Afghanistan, on it. notwithstanding the friction unleashed after US President Donald Trump Many critics argue that with Pakistan’s tax collections repeatedly falling ended virtually all defence related assistance to Pakistan. Being in this behind target, the country’s ability to meet its CPEC-related financial ob - unique position of maintaining close ties with China versus a security di - ligations will remain in doubt. Similarly, Imran and his Pakistan Tehreek- alogue with the US, albeit a reduced one, Pakistan is able to talk to both e-Insaf (PTI) came to power just last year, promising to lay the ground for countries. This is a powerful and a telling relationship. In about three a concerted attack on corruption. But Imran Khan cannot afford to oversee years, China will begin supplying up to eight new submarines to Pakistan a slowdown across Pakistan from his government’s anti-corruption drive, over the subsequent six years with half of them due to be assembled in especially at a time when a recessionary type environment is already ex - Pakistan. The submarines are part of what is widely acknowledged as the pected under the weight of conditions expected under a new loan from largest defence contract in dollar terms, ever signed by Pakistan. the International Monetary Fund. In the end, it should be clear to any ob - Meanwhile, by next year, the Pakistan Air Force is expected to get server that the full success from Pakistan’s closer economic ties with nearer to deciding on a new contract for the purchase of its next batch of China, in part must be tied to the policies chosen by the country.
May 16-31, 2019 09 Divide Fears after Sri Lankan attacks
Shahid Hussain
The recent terror attacks have widened ethnic and religious divides in Sri of violence. Over the last several years, an extremist Buddhist group, the Lanka. Christians fear more attacks and Muslims face reprisals from them Bodhu Bala Sena (or Buddhist Power Army), has begun to preach against and the government, which has given a new dimension to violence in the the Muslim community, exhorting followers to boycott Muslim businesses and country. spreading virulent lies about Muslims on social media. These groups and their Experts say the Easter Sunday attacks have brought the island nation to followers have been linked to violence against Muslims in the south and center the forefront of the global terrorism discourse. The Islamic State militant group of Sri Lanka last year. took credit for the attacks, releasing pictures and videos of the alleged attack - The Human Rights Watch has expressed concern about a ban on face ers. The video showed the suicide bombers who conducted the raids wearing coverings by Sri Lankan Muslim women in public following the bombings. The black overalls, faces covered, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and its ban prohibits any face covering “that may hinder one’s identify (from being) leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The bombings have further strengthened the ascertained,” and cites such coverings as a potential security threat. “In or - hypothesis that territorial destruction of the so-called Islamic State has not di - dering the ban, Sri Lanka joins a growing number of countries which, in the minished the reach, the approach, or the brand power of the group. Instead, name of national security, target Muslim women who wear the veil. Under in - its attraction remains potent—and it’s making use of local groups and griev - ternational human rights law, governments may restrict rights to freedom of ances. This poses a challenge for South Asia in particular, with its political ten - expression or religion, including wearing of religious attire or display of reli - sions often crossing religious lines, as the Islamic State rebrands as a global gious symbols, but only when such restrictions are proportionate and on rea - insurgency. sonable grounds. A government’s impulse to take dramatic security measures The bombings are being seen as the most serious challenge to Sri Lanka's is understandable in the wake of mass violence, but the face ban dispropor - stability since the end of the decades-long conflict with separatist Hindu Tamils tionately restricts the rights of women who wear the burqa or niqab, a veil leav - came to an end in 2009. Although Muslims have led a largely peaceful exis - ing only the eyes visible. For Muslim women who feel uncomfortable being tence, the community has faced mounting pressure since 2014 when riots in uncovered in public, a ban can cut off access to public transit, education, em - the south of the island started by hardline Buddhists left at least three people ployment, and social services, isolating them and barring them from opportu - dead. The recent attacks risk further undermining trust among Sri Lanka's 22 nities to be part of society and benefit from critical services.” million people who include not only the majority Buddhists, Muslims and Chris - The ban also adds to stigma against Muslims, who have already reported tians, but a patchwork of ethnicities, noted Aljazeera in its report. feeling threatened in Sri Lanka. Angry crowds have threatened and assaulted The government has empowered the military, giving the armed forces the mostly Muslim refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom have been kind of far-reaching powers of search, arrest and detention that they had dur - evicted from their homes. Just as women should not be forced to wear the ing the conflict with the Tamil Tigers. Fearing a backlash, many Muslims are niqab, burqa or other religious dress, nor should they be punished for choosing avoiding venturing out. Many mosques were pelted with stones in different to do so. parts of the country. Most Muslim women have decided to stay at home, others According to the ABC News, the attack may teach the world a lesson it have chosen to forego the hijab so they can continue with their daily lives in should've learned from al-Qaida -- if you don't learn from early attacks, peace. There has also been an increase in men visiting barbers to shave their they'll only get worse. Terrorism has taken on new forms and the world has beards, according to local media reports. Most Muslims are avoiding Friday adopted new tactics since the Sept. 11 attacks. Over the years, many prayers at mosques after the terrorist attacks. groups have vied for supremacy in the terrorist world. Even among terror - Ameena Hussein, a Sri Lankan novelist, wrote in the New York Times: ists, competition drives some of their actions. Unfortunately, that competition “The attacks on Easter Sunday have left everyone in Sri Lanka confused and manifests itself in these groups trying to conduct larger scale and more hor - bewildered. Those of us who are Muslim are also trying to understand how rific attacks. The question of what the actual goal was for the attacks still this violence could have come from our own community. Part of my dismay needs an answer. If it was simply to attack Christians on Easter, via a soft comes from realizing how far removed parts of the Muslim community have target, whoever did it went beyond the normal homemade explosives that become from the rest of our country. Sri Lankan Muslims trace our roots back lonewolf terrorists generally have used. If it was to destabilize the govern - to the Arab traders and Sufi mystics who brought Islam to Sri Lanka in the ment of Sri Lanka, why attack churches? If it was indeed ISIS, it is clearly seventh century. Today, Sufism has gone underground, while radical Muslims expanding its target radius. have taken over many of Sri Lanka’s mosques. Foreign-funded religious While the investigation is ongoing, one thing is clear: The Sri Lankan at - schools with puritanical preachers have persuaded many in our community tacks could be the precursor to more and larger attacks. The size, scope and that Sufism is a threat to the practice of a “pure,” original Islam. While some coordination of the attacks indicate a greater logistical capability and structure. families still cling to their Sufi roots, others have found it easier to accept the The spectacular nature of the attacks sends a clear message: someone is norms, which have affected Muslims regardless of class, city or sect,” she ob - vying for the terrorism spotlight. The hope is that if the next incident is in the served. planning stages, whatever intelligence has been gathered is given more ve - As Muslims became more visible in Sri Lanka, they have become targets racity than the information collected by Sri Lankan authorities.
10 May 16-31, 2019 Transition PML-N breaks free from Sharifs?
Husnain Shahid
A recent reshuffle in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) indi - The PML-N also approved major changes in the party's structure cates the realization of the truth among the Sharif family that the party after former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was named PML-N’s should start learning to exist without them. It could also be an attempt senior vice president and Maryam Nawaz, daughter of ex-premier to pacify the establishment to get relief for the former ruling family, Nawaz Sharif, was appointed a vice president for the first time. Ahsan whose all members are facing serious corruption and money laundering Iqbal, who was previously the party's acting secretary general, was charges, but it could pave the way for the party’s disintegration. named its secretary general. Hamza Shahbaz was included in the list of Almost 22 members of the Sharif family and relatives were in politics 16 vice presidents that also includes Maryam. Both Maryam and Hamza when Nawaz Sharif became the prime minister of Pakistan after the were previously named members of the party's Central Executive Com - 2013 elections. Only three members of the Sharif family survived in pol - mittee (CEC). Former Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was ap - itics in 2019. PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, who succeeded his pointed the Punjab president of the party, with Awais Leghari as the brother and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after his disqualification general secretary. and conviction, has extended his stay in London as he faces charges of The restructuring of the party has also created an impression that money laundering and corruption in Pakistan. His son, Hamza Shahbaz, those close to Nawaz Sharif have managed to get key posts while those also faces the same charges and he might not be able to take part in allied with Shahbaz Sharif have been sidelined. The impression gained active politics. The same is the case with Maryam Nawaz. strength as close aides to the elder Sharif, Rana Tanvir Hussain and In a clear indication that PML-N President and Opposition Leader in Khwaja Asif, got key posts of PAC and parliamentary leader slots, re - the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, will not return to Pakistan to spectively. The party believes the appointment of Maryam Nawaz as a face the cases against him, he has quit the chairmanship of the all-pow - vice president would give fresh impetus to the party. However, her con - erful parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The government viction in the Avenfield corruption case may have legal implications for and critics believe he used his position to save himself from corruption her new role in the party. There is also a feeling in the party that Nawaz cases and flee abroad. He had obtained the position after prolonged Sharif wants a bigger role for her in the party in the days to come and wrangling with the government in December last year. PML-N MNA from she may eventually lead the party one day. Shahbaz Sharif’s son, Sheikhupura and former Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain is set to replace Hamza Shahbaz, who has been appointed opposition leader in the Pun - Shahbaz Sharif. The PML-N nominated former Foreign Minister Khawaja jab Assembly despite reservations by some senior leaders of the party, Mohammad Asif as the party’s parliamentary leader in the assembly. could not get a top position in the party’s Punjab chapter despite his The position had also been previously held by Shahbaz Sharif. wish. The position was given to Nawaz Sharif’s loyalist Rana Sanaullah. The sudden decision has lent credence to speculation that Shahbaz Almost all members of the Sharif family have reached London to Sharif would not return to the country anytime soon. On the other hand, avoid corruption cases against them. Nawaz Sharif also wanted to leave the PML-N claims he would be back in the country before the announce - Pakistan on medical grounds but the Supreme Court of Pakistan re - ment of the federal budget, as he had extended his stay in London on jected his plea for extension in bail and permission to leave the country medical grounds after his doctors suggested more tests. However, re - for treatment abroad. ports say there has been resentment in the party over the decisions of Sources say PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, his son Salman and the leadership and a group in the party believed that it would be difficult son-in-law Ali Imran have been advised by their legal team not to return for them to justify the moves before the public and other opposition par - to Pakistan in the current situation. The National Accountability Bureau ties. Some senior party members also fear that Shahbaz Sharif’s deci - (NAB) claimed to have arrested two front men of the Shahbaz Sharif sion to extend his stay in London could damage the party. It is said family, who laundered billions of rupees for them. According to the NAB, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Mian Javed Latif had expressed concern Shahbaz Sharif, his first wife and two sons, laundered about $26 million. over the leadership’s failure to lead the party from the front in the parlia - They are also accused of living beyond their known sources of income. ment. Though PML-N leaders claim that Shahbaz Sharif will return to Pak - Reacting to the development, PTI members said that Shahbaz Sharif istan before the budget session, yet the recent changes deny it. Critics would not return to the country as he was facing corruption charges and say he would not have relinquished two top positions in the parliament that Nawaz Sharif was also planning to leave the country. The Pakistan if he had an intention to return to Pakistan anytime soon. The Sharifs Peoples Party (PPP), a close ally of the PML-N and the second major have always divided top party positions among their family members. opposition party in the parliament, was also concerned about the They have started appointing people outside the family, which indicates changes. It said the PML-N had not consulted it before the important de - they are willing to leave the party alone. Some analysts claim it is the cisions. It is also being speculated that former Prime Minister Shahid first step towards a deal, after which Nawaz Sharif will also be allowed Khaqan may also be appointed the PML-N president in the absence of to leave the country along with his daughter. In this way, the Sharifs Shahbaz Sharif. could avoid punishment but the party would disintegrate.
May 16-31, 2019 11 Terror Daesh in South Asia
Raza Khan
The recent terrorist attacks on Sri Lankan churches, killing more than 350 border with Afghanistan. Now, the group has become a real threat to the people and scores of casualties in recent Kabul attacks and claiming the entire South Asian region. attacks in the South Asian states by the global terrorist organization, the According to National Internal Security Policy (NISP) approved by the so-called Islamic State or Daesh, has raised many questions. The terrorist last federal cabinet of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in last attack in Quetta, Pakistan, in which dozens of Hazara community members week of its five-year tenure, “The emergence of Daesh (IS) in close prox - were killed, although claimed by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan imity to Pakistan has raised new internal security challenges. The potential (TTP), yet it had marks of Daesh. for spillover in Pakistan with the support and collaboration of TTP and its Before dilating upon the questions that have arisen after the recent ter - offshoots is not a possibility to be ignored. This situation has been com - rorist attacks by Daesh in South Asia, it is important to note that the recent pounded by the return of battle-hardened militants from Syria and Iraq.” attacks by it in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan came after the defeat of the group Over 120 experts were involved in the formulation of the policy which es - in its Middle Eastern heartland, Iraq and Syria. It may also be mentioned tablished a multi-pronged strategy to meet the goals. The recent Quetta at - that it has lost all of its strongholds in Iraq, including the strategic cities of tack, claimed by the TTP but carrying signs of Daesh, could potentially be Falluja and Mosul and Racca in Syria. United States President Donald the result of rare collaboration between the TTP and Daesh. If it is discov - Trump claimed some four months back that Daesh was decisively defeated. ered that an alliance has been forged between the two groups, it would be Moreover, it made the recent terrorist attacks, particularly in Sri Lanka, disastrous. which is the deadliest in the history of the group since its emergence in the The recognition of Daesh as a key threat to Pakistan and the region by Middle East in 2014, after the New Zealand mosques attacks by a Christian the Pakistani authorities is significant as there seems growing realization fundamentalist, Brenton Tarrant, in which several innocent Muslims were among the country’s strategists that the danger is present and genuine and killed. Soon after the New Zealand mosque attacks, it had vowed to avenge it needs comprehensive strategies to deal with. Previously, the Pakistani au - them and the Sri Lankan attacks seemed to be the revenge. thorities have been hesitant to acknowledge it as a major threat. There were While terrorist attacks on innocent people and non-combatants, which some political and diplomatic reasons for the denial. However, a reality can - ever religion they may belong, cannot be justified, Daesh seems to have not be denied for long and there have been a number of reports describing made attacks in Sri Lanka to revive its dwindling fortunes. In this respect it the growing threat. There are some important reasons for Pakistan’s recog - is trying to further the claim or argument of “clash of civilization,” which is, nition of Daesh as a huge security threat. This is described in the reports of indeed, a very dangerous phenomenon. However, when Christian funda - the policy which reads, “The threat of transnational terrorism is rearing its mentalist Tarrant had killed Muslims in New Zealand mosques and justified head again. TTP militants have relocated to Afghanistan. Daesh is estab - his actions from the clash of religion perspective, groups like Daesh, would lishing a footprint in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border with a very real exploit the situation for their motives. In case there are more similar attacks potential of spillover into parts of Pakistan. This situation has been com - by Christian fundamentalists on Muslims in the western countries, it would pounded by the return of battle-hardened militants from Syria and Iraq.” get the pretext to launch attacks on Christians in Muslim countries. It would The relocation of Daesh to Afghanistan from its initially established basis do so by presenting itself to Muslims as a champion of their identity and in eastern parts of the country, particularly Nangrahar, Kunar and Nooristan ideology and potentially many gullible Muslims would consider it as their provinces to the borders with Central Asian Republics, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan benefactor. Resultantly, more and more Muslims would support it in cash and Turkmenistan as well as Iran is apparently a well thoughtout strategy and kind and thousands may join its ranks. It could resuscitate the group’s on its part. The strategy must have been formulated by keeping in mind that fortunes. the writ of the Afghan state, which is already quite weak in the mainland, is The recent attacks in South Asia should be seen in the light of the almost non-existent in the border regions. Therefore, the environment is group’s revival strategy. Here it is important to note that South Asia is home quite conducive for the terrorist group for hideouts, training camps and to the largest Muslim population anywhere in the world and, therefore, from launching pads. Then, it has an anti-Shiite agenda and this it has been ruth - its standpoint it is of extreme importance. However, on their part the South lessly implementing it in its birth place and heartland, Iraq and Syria. It has Asian countries, apart from Pakistan, which has very consistently been tak - been eyeing the Shiite-dominated Iran for its terrorist attacks for long and ing very elaborate measures to prevent it from having a toehold on its soil, by having a firm hold in war-devastated Afghanistan, it could very easily have not taken the threat from Daesh very seriously. For instance, launch terrorist attacks in Iran. Tehran is also quite perturbed by the situation. Afghanistan has been demonstrating lack of capacity to negotiate the grow - There have been reports that Iran has established close relations with ing attacks from the terrorist group. India, home to one of the largest Muslim once its bitter enemy the Afghan Taliban, in order to counter Daesh in population in any country, has been in a state of self-denial regarding its Afghanistan. Daesh and the Afghan Taliban have been at daggers drawn presence, potential and activities on its soil. Investigators have revealed in Afghanistan and there have been a number of bloody clashes between that the perpetrators of the Sri Lankan terrorist attacks had links with Daesh the two sides in a turf war. members in India. Whereas, the Sri Lankan authorities reportedly have also The threat of Daesh in South Asia is real and urgent. From the defeat been denying its presence and activities on its territory and were caught of the group in its Middle Eastern heartland, the authorities in South Asian napping when the attacks were carried out by the group. Importantly, Iran, countries must not relax as the outfit is eyeing to revive itself by launching sometime back, also warned Islamabad of militants regrouping along its huge attacks in South Asia.
12 May 16-31, 2019 Strategy Unelected advisers and system’s viability
Raza Khan
Prime Minister Imran Khan continues to replace elected ministers with nom - proved more democratic than the parliamentary system in place in many inated experts as advisors and handing them over the charge of different countries, like the largest democracy India or oldest democracy Great Britain. ministries. Important ministries like finance, information and health have been Whether Pakistanis could and should ponder over an alternative political placed under unelected advisers. system, against this backdrop one has to look into the merits of a possible The appointment of unelected advisers as in-charge of different ministries presidential system in the country. The foremost reason in this regard is that by Prime Minister Imran Khan has raised serious questions about the func - parliamentary politics and the system of governance result in polarization in tionality and relevance of the political system as important parts of the system society and the political system, due to which the biggest victims are policy - are being run by people who are not part of it. The most recent entry to the making and governance and ultimately the people. The parliamentary political clan of expert advisers of PM Khan cabinet is Dr. Zafar Mirza, who is in- system is based on constituency-based elections and power struggle. Fun - charge of the Federal Health Ministry. Previously, the prime minister made damentally, Pakistan is a traditional, rural and tribal society where constituen - some important changes in his cabinet and the most important of them was cies are inhabited by a few families, biraderis (lineage groups) or tribes having the change of his Finance Minister Asad Umar, National Health Services, historical enmities and feuds. More often, these different social groups strug - Regulation and Coordination Minister Aamir Kiyani as well as the Minister for gle for power at the local level, which at times, becomes quite intimate and petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan. Going into the political merits of the violent. Moreover, dominate groups at the constituency or local level manip - changes, they had become necessary due to continued economic meltdown ulate the system by intimidating the people. In the presidential system, local in the country as well as the ever-rising prices of natural gas and medicines. groups having personal, familial, tribal interests cannot dominate politics while There are also some other unelected advisers of the prime minister, like Dr. the local influentials whether chaudrhirs, Khans, nawabs, waderas, wajas etc Ishrat Hussain and Abdul Razaaq Daud, who are looking after important port - cannot dictate the political system. In the presidential system every citizen folios in the federal government. has really an equal chance of becoming a president or a provincial governor. The appointment of Dr. Sheikh and other unelected advisers has put huge Then, in the presidential system the legislative and executive authority, question marks over the feasibility and strength of the entire parliamentary unlike the parliamentary system, rests in different state organs. This leads to political system of the country. If a political system cannot produce figures quality policymaking and governance, the lack of which has kept the Pakistani that can run important ministries, how come it could be called a relevant, let state largely unresponsive. Moreover, in the presidential system, the chief alone efficient system? executive, which in this case is the president, has relative freedom to imple - Here, it is important to understand the need of a viable political system ment policies and come up with innovative projects and strategies for devel - for the country. The political system of a country is crucially important for or - opment and raising the life standard of the majority of people. ganizing society and responding to the needs of the people and the provision In the presidential system, the parochial and separatist-minded political of an environment which is essential for social, economic and physical de - parties and groups do not have any chance to get power. Ethno-linguistic po - velopment of the country as well as the welfare of citizens and their person - litical parties although are important in democracy yet if they make the system ality development. It is the structure and functions of the political system and hostage, as has been the case in Pakistan, then these parties are causes of its institutions, that condition policies and governance within the state. Hence, instability. the system of government or political system ought to be meticulously de - PM Khan and his government have many lacuna and shortcomings in signed to be effective and efficient in achieving objectives that inter alia in - their policies and approach to put the economy on the right track and come clude stability of society through ensuring social control, security of citizens, up with good governance strategies in other respects; however, if we look the provision of basic amenities and social services and guaranteeing fun - deeper into our economic and financial woes, the roots could be traced back damental rights of the people and achieving development in all spheres of to the inception of the real parliamentary system in 1970s, when Prime Min - human activity. ister Zulfiqar Bhutto came up with his nationalization policies, followed by Our Constitution provides for the parliamentary system of government in pseudo “Islamization” of the economy by General Zia in 1980s, public-private the country. The country is once again at the crossroads in its largely che - partnership of Benazir Bhutto in late 80s and mid-90s and privatization and quered history whereas the political system, despite its relative continuity, deregulation policies of Nawaz Sharif in 1990s. Importantly, in all three dic - has generally been unable to fulfill its basic functions and achieve its funda - tatorial regimes of Gen. Ayub Khan in 1960s, General Zia and General mental objectives. It is up to the people to agree what kind of political system Musharraf in 2000s, all of whom led a fundamentally presidential system, the the country must have but the dominant majority of politicians and political economy performed far better. However, the fundamental problem with these parties, who claim to be representative of the people, for decades have had military regimes was their dictatorial character due to which the structural and considered the parliamentary system the best option for the state and its res - systemic flaws of the country could not be addressed. The elected govern - idents. They have been against any other political system specifically the al - ments could also not fix the economy once and for all due to myopic and self- ternative proportional representative and presidential system. The foremost centered policies of the rulers. criticism by Pakistani political parties of the presidential system of government The debate which has already started in the country regarding a change has been its “undemocratic” nature. The fact of the matter is that generally in the political system is very important and we all must participate in it be - the presidential system that is in vogue in many countries of the world, like cause it is the question of the future of the country and everyone of us as the the greatest democracy America and extensively democratic Germany, it has parliamentary system is not proving a panacea for the ills of the country.
May 16-31, 2019 13 Analysis The massive revenue shortfall
Muhammad Jahangir
According to the latest figures, the shortfall in tax collection has widened to Rs345 billion in the first ten months of this fiscal year. According to a detailed analysis, from July to April, the Federal Board of Revenue collected Rs2.993 trillion in taxes as against the target of Rs3.35 trillion. Overall, the 10-month tax collection was higher by mere Rs70 billion or 2.4%. But the rate of increase in tax collection was far below the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 12.5%.The FBR has sustained Rs52 billion shortfalls in April, collecting only Rs288 billion against the monthly target of Rs340 billion. The collection in April was neg - ative Rs7 billion or 2% when compared with the same month in the corre - sponding period last year. The FBR’s collection stood at Rs2060 billion in the first seven months and after adding Rs268 billion, the overall collection went up to Rs2328 billion in first eight months (July-Feb) of the current fiscal year. The FBR’s collection in the same period of the last fiscal year 2017-18 stood at Rs2259 billion. It indicates that the FBR collection increased only Rs79 billion so far in the current fiscal year. In this context, it is relevant to point out here that during July-March of ucts has now brought at the standard level of 17 percent. It may be added the last fiscal year, the FBR had collected Rs2.923 trillion. This year’s 10- here that the sales tax collection on POL products at the import stage has month collection was equal to 68% of the annual downward revised target decreased by Rs43 billion so far. of Rs4.4 trillion. Former Finance Minister Asad Umar had told the IMF that Experts have noted that the government is taking decisions that may the FBR may collect Rs4.1 trillion. But this now seems to be an uphill task. further dent tax collection. Despite a steep shortfall in tax revenues, the Available data shows that for the second time in this fiscal year, the federal government unexpectedly reduced the General Sales Tax (GST) monthly collection target for customs duties has been missed. Against the rates on all petroleum products. Last month, the government cut the GST monthly target of Rs61.7 billion, the FBR collected Rs55 billion in custom rate on petrol from 17% to 2%, on high speed diesel from 17% to 13%, on duties in April. Keeping in view the full year revised target of Rs735 billion, kerosene oil to 8%, and on light diesel oil to 9%. The step was taken after the customs department is now projecting to collect only Rs685 billion by the federal cabinet referred the matter of increase in petroleum prices to June. This is despite the fact that the Pak rupee has undergone steep de - its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).Other factors affecting the valuation. The FBR collects nearly 45% of its total revenues at the import FBR’s collection are non-payment of tax dues by the power distribution stage. As such, import restriction policies have adversely affected the col - companies due to chronic circular debt. lection of income tax, sales tax at the import stage and custom duties. The latest reports show that the FBR has formally asked the Finance FBR authorities say the decline in collection is attributable to a drop in Ministry to further revise its annual target to Rs4.1 trillion, although this fig - withholding taxes from contracts, mobile phones and salaries during the ure also appears unrealistic. According to experts, the tax collection target current fiscal year. The slowing economic activities are also hampering could be as high as around Rs5.4 trillion. But this will require 36% growth revenue growth. The share of withholding taxes is in the decline which is in revenue collection over an estimated Rs4 trillion collection. Historically, being compensated through direct taxes. According to latest reports, the the FBR has never posted more than 22% annual growth. sales tax on the domestic front is registering good growth. Analysts say the widening gap between tax collection and the target is Among other things, tax collection fell short of the target because of in - likely to make Pakistan’s case difficult in the eyes of the IMF. So far, the centives provided by the last regime for salaried class as the taxable limit IMF and Pakistani authorities have held four rounds of discussions on the was increased from Rs0.4 million to Rs1.2 million per annum, massive re - tax issues. The IMF has been suggesting to the tax authorities to adopt duction in utilization of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), sus - necessary steps for achieve the next fiscal year’s tax collection target. It pension of withholding tax on mobile phone usage and keeping sales tax remains to be seen if the government succeeds in containing the revenue on petroleum products on the lower side. The sales tax on petroleum prod - shortfall and how the IMF responds to the situation.
14 May 16-31, 2019 Viewpoint Unsustainable public debt
Muhammad Jahangir
Pakistan’s debt burden continues to grow rapidly. According to the latest SBP figures, the government has added Rs3.6 trillion to public debt by the end of March, taking the total stock to Rs27.8 trillion. The central government’s debt grew at a pace of 14.8% from July through March of this fiscal year. From July through March 2018-19, the government on an average added Rs13.2 billion a day to its debt. The ac - cumulation of debt is the direct result of the gap between expenditures and revenues, which is widening due to the inelasticity in debt servicing and necessary needs and the Federal Board of Revenue’s failure to enhance revenue collection. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the FBR suffered a shortfall of Rs300 billion in revenue collection, which further widened to Rs345 billion at the end of April. The FBR’s tax collection grew at a pace of slightly over 2%. Due to high levels of debt, the previous government was unable to at - tract non-debt creating inflows and enhance tax revenues. The PTI gov - ernment is also trying to enhance exports despite around 35% depreciation of rupee since December 2017. A serious challenge is the continued growth in the short-term domestic debt, which exposes the government to Rs121.54, which reached Rs140.7 to a dollar by the end of March. The refinancing and interest rate risks. The federal government’s total domestic worsening debt situation must be controlled through a well-devised policy debt increased to Rs18.24 trillion, an addition of Rs1.8 trillion or 10.7% in package, otherwise it will add to the economic woes of the common man. nine months of the current fiscal year. The share of short-term public debt The government needs to come up with concrete plans to reduce and slightly decreased to 56.2% or Rs10.27 trillion by the end of March. In June ultimately eliminate the present level of revenue deficit, so that external last year, the short-term domestic debt stood at 54.1% or Rs8.9 trillion. and domestic debt is contained to a reasonable level. So far as the external The short-term debt grew Rs1.4 trillion or 5.5% in nine months. sector is concerned, the government has made the right moves to narrow The double-digit growth in the debt stock does not augur well for the the trade deficit by substantially depreciating the Pak rupee and imposing government. The increase in debt is not in line with Prime Minister Imran duties on various items of imports. Though the steps are in the right direc - Khan’s promise to reduce the debt pile by one-third at the end of his term. tion, yet they have so far not made the expected impact on the current ac - The rising pile of debt should be a matter of serious concern for PM Imran, count balance, forcing the government to borrow extensively from friendly who during an interaction with media persons over a month ago, had said countries in order to arrest the dwindling trend in foreign exchange re - that he planned to bring down the debt stock to Rs20 trillion from what he serves. claimed Rs30 trillion at the end of June 2018. The premier again blamed The Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Bill aimed at elim - the governments of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim inating revenue deficit and reducing public debt to a prudent level was League-N for increasing public debt to Rs30 trillion. However, some ex - passed by the National Assembly on March 3, 2005. The Bill, as passed, perts contest PM Imran’s claim that the PML-N left the public debt at the was meant to bring down the revenue deficit to zero by June 30, 2008, level of Rs30 trillion because the SBP record showed that gross public and maintain a revenue surplus thereafter to reduce total public debt to 60 debt by June 2018 was Rs24.2 trillion. percent of GDP by June, 2013 and maintain it below this level in the sub - The figures the PTI government shared with the International Monetary sequent years. The government of the day was bound to keep the National Fund (IMF) showed that gross public debt would jump by another Rs11 Assembly informed about any deviations from the set course which were trillion to Rs36 trillion within three years. It is relevant to note here that in - only to be allowed in exceptional circumstances. But the Bill, which could ternational financial institutions and the Ministry of Finance do not see a act as a guarantee for sound fiscal management, was violated by succes - sharp reduction in the debt level that even as percentage of Gross Do - sive governments with impunity. mestic Product would remain above 70% of GDP by 2023. The external The PTI government must act with more responsibility and try to boost debt of the central government increased 23.5% to Rs9.63 trillion in the revenue and narrow the gap between imports and exports which are the first nine months of the current fiscal year. There was a net increase of basic reasons behind the rising debt burden. To this end we need to build Rs1.83 trillion in external debt, largely due to currency depreciation and our industrial sinews and exploit our agrarian potential to the fullest which fresh external borrowings. In June 2018, the value of a dollar was equal to is the only route to sustainable growth.
May 16-31, 2019 15 Education Shortage of teachers in South Punjab Colleges
Rasheed Ali
The news cuttshared with Umar Deen Kumhar was not less than a bomb - taken away the girl. Even some people later told him that Chaudhry’s son shell for him when he was told that his son had badly failed his first-year had forced her to jump into the well. board examinations. His son’s classmate told him that Taj Deen could not Umar Deen Kumhar did everything possible for him to get justice for get even passing marks in all three science subjects – Math, physics and his deceased daughter. He appeared in the ‘‘khuli kutchery’’ (open court chemistry, and English. of wadda thanedaar) and the police also arrested the accused. But when Living in a chak (village) about 9 kilometres from Fort Abbas a tehsil of he was produced before a court a few days later, a lawyer got him released district Bahawalnagar, it was really hard for Umar Deen to admit his son firstly on bail and then got him cleared of all charges for lack of evidence to Government Degree College for Boys, Fort Abbas. Arranging for a new against him. Even the state lawyer provided to him by the court supported uniform along with black shoes and a bicycle for his son was not an easy Chaudhry’s son, and Umar Deen couldn’t do anything for his daughter. task for him. However, he arranged for the amount required for buying all The judge expressed sympathy with him, but told him he could not sen - these necessities through a loan from Chaudhry Muhammad Awais Jajja, tence anybody without a solid evidence. The court experience told him the numberdar of the village, and selling of his only pair of hens. In fact, lawyer in black coats could do anything; they may get convicted innocent his son’s schoolteacher had played a key role in convincing and motivating people and get released criminals. Umar Deen to send his son to college, as he had passed his matriculation Therefore, when his son’s teacher told him Taj Deen could change his examination in first division. ‘‘Your son is a hardworking and shining stu - fate, he decided that he would send his son to college to make him a dent. One day he’ll become a doctor or an engineer and change your fate thanedaar or a wakeel. He had always pinned high hopes on his son, who altogether,’’ the teacher had told him. was the first one to go to school for an education. Teacher’s words kindled a hope in Umar Deen Kumhar. He had no in - Umar Deen had left his original profession of pottery soon after the terest in his son becoming a doctor or an engineer; he wanted him to be - death of his wife. From kneading clay to making pottery on his wheel, and come ‘‘wadda thanedaar’’ (big police officer) or a wakeel (lawyer). He had never forgotten the humiliation and helplessness he underwent throughout his life after his teenage daughter was ‘‘kidnapped’’ by the Chaudhry’s son years ago. He could not do anything to get justice for himself or for his daughter. She was only 13 years old when Chaudhry’s son, almost thrice of her age, took her along to some other city telling her that he would marry her. When he went to police station to lodge a case against the ‘‘kidnapper’’, the police officer not only refused to register a case but also insulted him. He even threatened to put him in jail if he visited the police station again. His daughter later committed suicide by jumping into a well near their vil - lage when the Chaudhry’s son refused to marry her even after passage of over two years. He had tortured her badly and thrown her near his house. And the innocent girl, in a state of sheer regret, shame and helplessness, jumped into a well to end her life, instead of returning to home. The area people pulled her body from the well in the morning, and after recognising her told Umar Deen about it. During his wailing, the police came there and took the body to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for autopsy and other legal requirements. The hospital staff later told Umar Deen the girl was seven-month pregnant, and the infant had also died with her. The police registered a case against his daughter for committing sui - cide but refused to include the name of Chaudhry’s son in the FIR for lack of evidence against the accused, though the entire village knew it who had
16 May 16-31, 2019 from drying process to firing of his pots, he always intensely felt the need available in his college. All students studying pre-engineering and pre- for his wife’s help, which was no more there. After the incident of their medical subjects used to get private tuitions to pass their examinations. daughter dying in a well, she fell permanently ill, and within a year of her However, Taj Deen knew it well he could not afford private tuition in very daughter’s tragic death, she also died. limited resources of his father, hence be failed in four subjects. For the last Then Taj Deen was 10 or 11 years old, and studying in their village few months, he has started working as trainee ‘‘munshi’’ (accountant) at a school. His wife had always insisted on education of her son, and Umar Galla Mandi (Wholesale Grain Market) shop in Fort Abbas. Deen also had no objection to it. After his wife’s death, he didn’t withdraw However, Shahzad Hussain, the office in-charge at Government De - his son from school, and instead left his pottery profession, continuing in gree College for Boys, Fort Abbas, where Taj Deen studied for one year, his family for generations. Now his only source of income was his donkey. partially endorses the account that there is shortage of teachers in the col - Twice of thrice a week, he, along with his donkey, was hired by village peo - lege. ple for transportation of building material, bricks, cement, crushed stone, In a telephonic talk with Cutting Edge , he said currently 15 teachers etc. It would fetch him two meals a day, and some fodder for his donkey. were working in the college against the total approved strength of 29. He But sending his son to college and meeting his needs was a very difficult claimed that all science teachers including those for physics, chemistry, decision for him. biology, computer science and mathematics were available in the college, However, the hope of getting some respect in his village, and one day and the strength was sufficient for imparting education to over 1,200 stu - taking revenge from those who had killed his daughter forced him to send dents currently studying in the college. He, however, admitted that there his son to college. But the news of his son’s failure in first year exams had may be shortage of science teachers two, three years back when Taj Deen dashed all his hopes. In a fit of severe helplessness and anger, he beat was studying there. his son black and blue with the stick he used to hit his donkey. Even the In fact, severe shortage of teachers in almost all colleges of South Pun - explanations given by his son’s class-fellow could not stop him from beat - jab districts is a reality, which is not hidden from the authorities concerned. ing him. Umar Deen was told his son had opted for science subjects on In the first week of May the Punjab Assembly was informed that there the recommendation of his schoolteacher, though no science teacher was was a severe shortage of teaching staff in the most backward areas of the province.The official data was shared in response to a written query of MPA Shazia Abid. Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education Sibtain Raza told the House that in Rajanpur district, the most under-privileged area of Punjab, out of 256 posts of teaching staff for 10 colleges, only 110, or around 43%, are occupied and the rest are vacant. The record showed that the vacancy ratio is even poor. Like, only two teaching posts, out of 19, are filled in the Government Boys Degree Col - lege, Umerkot; and four out of 22 posts in the Government Girls Degree College, Dajal. The parliamentary secretary admitted that the situation of the provision of furniture to the colleges is also dismal, as four of the institutes are facing its shortage. He also admitted that the Higher Education Department had no alternative plans to meet the shortage of teachers, adding that the hiring of lecturers through the Punjab Public Service Commission would take a long time. Last year, the Higher Education Department had told the minister that 7,000 posts of lecturers and 5,000 MPhil and PhDs staff had been vacant for long. On the other hand, the Higher Education Commission has already been informed, and this has been reported in the press, that the budget for the higher education sector is going to be cut. Compared to what the HEC would like to demand, the cuts might be to the tune of 10% to 15% in re - current expenditures and up to a whopping 50% in development expendi - tures.
May 16-31, 2019 17 Debate The way forward for Pakistan Faheem Amir
Recently, there have occurred many important incidents in Pakistan. The blood - But, it is also a fact that their genuine demands should be fulfilled. The people of bath in Quetta’s Hazarganji area, massacre of innocents in Balochistan’s coastal KP, including former FATA, have suffered badly due to the terror war. Millions of town of Ormara, the 17-hour-long battle with militants in Peshawar, the DG ISPR’s people were forced to leave their homes. After the military operations, many of warning to the PTM leadership, terrorists’ attack on Pakistani troops who were them went back to the ruins of their homes. They have no facilities as the state undertaking fencing efforts along the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan, has not given due attention to their problems and sufferings. The state should ad - changes in the PML-N party, Nawaz Sharif’s bail rejection, the PPP’s reactionary dress all the problems which the people of the area are facing. All PTM members politics, changes in the PTI government’s ministries, grouping in the party, removal are not anti-state, as the Army Chief has clearly declared. In fact, there are some of the SBP and FBR heads, massive price hike in Ramazan and the dreadful fault-lines which the enemy of Pakistan is exploiting to achieve its own targets. HIV/AIDS crisis in Larkana are some incidents which will have lasting effects on There are many factors like poverty, corruption, unpatriotic political and religious Pakistan in coming days. leaders, ill-advised policies, social and economic inequality, injustice, exploitation, The war against terrorism is still going on in the country. Last month, the mili - feudalism, illiteracy and the prevailing principle of “might is right” which create tants had killed around 40 innocent people, including security personnel, in differ - these fault-lines. ent terror attacks. They killed more than 20 people belonging to the Hazara According to the UN’s 2018 Human Development Index, Pakistan stands at community in Quetta by detonating and IED in a vegetable market. The sole pur - 150th among 189 countries in the Human Development Index measured by com - pose of the attack was to instigate a sectarian war in the country. Terrorists are bining indicators of income, education and life expectancy. The Global Food Se - targeting the ethnic minority group again and again. In these attacks, so far, around curity Index ranks Pakistan 77th among 109 countries. According to Pakistan 500 members of the community have lost their lives while over 600 have been in - Education Statistics 2016-17, 22.84 million (44 per cent) out of the total 51.53 mil - jured. The state has failed to protect the community which is very shameful and lion children are out of school. According to Alif Ailaan, “Around 65 per cent of tragic. In spite of heavy presence of police and military, the situation is not fully government schools have no boundary walls, 55 per cent of them operate in di - under control. Hazaras, having distinctive ethnic features, are becoming an easy lapidated structures, 58 per cent have no toilets and 64 per cent have no running target of terrorism. They are facing difficulty in even attending educational institu - water. Further, there is just one teacher for 37 children in Pakistan.” tions, visiting hospitals, doing business and travelling freely in the city. Due to this The World Justice Project, in its report, placed the country at number 105 out situation, more than 70,000 Hazaras have already left Quetta. Since 2014, no of a total of 113 countries reviewed on the basis of rule of law, absence of corrup - doubt, the Pakistan army has made great gains in the fight against terrorism. How - tion and security. The dysfunctional and lax state of justice system can be gauged ever, the state has utterly failed to give protection to the beleaguered community. from the huge backlog of litigation. Currently, there are 1.9 million pending cases. In another terror incident, occurred less than a week after the tragic Hazaras In a country with a population upward of 207 million, there is one judge for 48,838 bloodbath, at least 14 people were shot dead after buses in which they were trav - people. Unfortunately, around 10 children suffered abuse every day with 3,832 elling were stopped on the Makran Coastal Highway by armed men. After check - cases of child abuse reported in 2018. And, now, the HIV/AIDS crisis in Larkana ing the passengers’ CNICs, the attackers cold-bloodedly killed the victims. Most has shaken the entire society. According to news reports, more than 4,100 people of them are said to be members of the navy and Coast Guards. A gang of banned have been screened for HIV and 157 positive cases were identified. “Among the separatist groups has taken responsibility for the killings. The separatist groups 156 new HIV cases, 129 are children and 27 adults,” says a report of the Sindh had committed a similar massacre in Mastung in 2015. They pulled off non-Baloch AIDS Control Programme. Some 90 infected children are aged between two to passengers from two Karachi-bound coaches and killed them. The separatists five, 26 between six to 15 years and 13 one year or less. This tragedy shows that are also killing migrant labourers now and then in Balochistan. On Oct 31 last the Sindh government has shown a criminal negligence. The PPP leadership has year, they killed five construction workers hailing from Punjab and Sindh in not given any attention to improve conditions in Sindh in the last ten years of its Gwadar. In Fact, there have also been many other terror attacks in 2019 before rule, which is very pathetic. the attacks in Quetta and Chaman as well. Six Levies personnel were martyred It is the duty of the state and the PTI government to remove all the factors and in an attack on a check-post in Ziarat on March 20. On January 29, eight police - causes which are becoming exploiting points and tools in the hands of the enemy men and a civilian were killed in an attack on a Deputy Inspector General’s office to destabilise the country. The National Action Plan must be fully implemented if in Loralai. Then, in November 2018, terrorists attacked on the Chinese Consulate the state and government want to create peace and prosperity in the country. Oth - in Karachi. erwise, there will be chaos in the coming days. It is true that Pakistan is a much safer country than it was before Zarb-e-Azb In this war, the media, electronic, print and social, has also played its pivotal and other military operations. In these operations, the army has got success in role. Even, the ISPR DG has acknowledged this fact, which is commendable. But eliminating many terrorists and their hideouts in Pakistan. But, the terror incidents it is also a fact that journalism is not an easy job in Pakistan. Three days ahead of show that the war against terrorism is not yet over. The state and the army need the World Press Freedom Day, 2109, Malik Amanullah Khan, a journalist and the to take many steps, including implementing the NAP fully, to win the war com - chairman of the Parowa Press Club, was killed in Dera Ismail Khan’s Parowa pletely. area. Around 72 journalists have already been killed in Pakistan from 2002 to There is not an iota of doubt that many external forces like India’s RAW, 2018. According to the Pakistan Press Foundation, “as many as 48 of them are Afghanistan’s NDS, America’s CIA and Israel’s Mossad are playing their games known to have been the intended target. Between 2003, when American journalist in Pakistan, especially Balochistan. They want to halt the CPEC and destabilise Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan, and 2013, trials in only five Pakistan for protecting their own partisan interests in the region. They are giving cases were concluded. Of the five murder convictions, three have been appealed”. help to all anti-Pakistani groups, including the TTP, PTM and Baloch separatist The press in Pakistan has faced many coercive and draconian laws and cen - groups etc. for achieving their nefarious designs. The army has accused the PTM sorships in its 71 years history. Many unseen and seen forces are still playing their (Pashtun Tahafuz Movement) of receiving funds from foreign intelligence agen - part in directing the media. Many journalists have been beaten, threatened, kid - cies. Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj Gen Asif napped and even killed. Recently , a reporter from an Urdu newspaper has gone Ghafoor, has categorically said: “Those playing in others’ hands, their time is up. missing in Karachi. Many media houses and newspapers are facing financial dif - Their time is up. We would do everything for the people of that area, for addressing ficulties after the government has decreased their adds. In spite of the difficulties, their grievances, in whose name the PTM is working. I have already told you what the media is educating, informing, guiding and entertaining the people and in - progress has been made in that direction.” creasing business activities in Pakistan. It has, recently, tackled and defeated the No state can tolerate groups which indulge in anti-state activities. The provoca - media of India in the fifth generation or media war. The state and the government tive slogans and inflammatory rhetoric of some PTM leaders are not acceptable. should protect the rights and lives of journalists if they want to win a hybrid war.
18 May 16-31, 2019 Apathy After Nishwa’s death
Dr. Zeeshan Khan
The Hippocratic Oath requires a new physician to swear, by a number mistakes have been made by doctors and care providers like more of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. These include about the lack of an effective regulatory structure that should have the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence. been created for the sector. “I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special Our judicial institutions must also be quick to dispense justice obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and which will allow for a remedy against malpractice. Usually, hospitals body as well as the infirm”. A statement, which certainly encom - have strong internal peer group-based quality audit systems. passes the rights of a patient in critical condition fighting for his or The Medical profession also has membership requirements, stan - her life. dards, checks and balances, can vary across societies. Nonetheless, Minor girl Nishwa, who was administered a wrong injection at almost all checks and regulatory structures are in place in most soci - Karachi’s Darul Sehat Hospital, passed away and the hospital was eties. In some places, we even have insurance companies and other fined Rs500,000 only. intermediaries coming in on behalf of the patients. We have none of Accused Sobia had filled the injections which had no labeling and these in Pakistan. It is no wonder medical markets are lucrative in gave it to male nurse Agha Moeez. On April 14, a nine-month-old girl Pakistan but provide, on the whole, a terrible service to the people. had paralysed allegedly after being administered “wrong injection” by A medical research study in the US has shown that 30% of all “untrained nursing staff” at Darul Sehat Hospital situated in Karachi’s deaths in the US happen because of a medical mistake or negligence Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Nishwa’s father Qaiser Ali told the media that somewhere during patients lives. The most important thing is not the police had threatened him to back out. doctor. It is to have a very well-funded, well-organized and very cen - The provincial government and the state could even plan to send tralized form of healthcare. Oath does not improve healthcare. It is Nishwa abroad for treatment but nothing was done. the system that does (eg. see Scandinavian health models). In Pak - Ali said that he would approach every forum to seek justice for his istan, a junior doctor in the public sector works like a donkey. Realize daughter, so that others did not fall prey to such practices. condition of hospitals, no better than doctors themselves, being There is no working regulatory framework that governs the health under equipped and understaffed in addition to being overburdened. sector in Pakistan, where markets are incomplete (no doctors for the Being a developing country, Pakistan has always struggled with old) and have large information asymmetries (where it is not clear if health issues. This also makes us stand at 122nd position out of 190 what is being prescribed is in the patient’s best interest), regulation countries in a report by World Health Organization (WHO). There is becomes very important. Otherwise, the temptation to take patients need to increase the health budget. In such circumstances, the cur - for a ride becomes too much. Even if some doctors and hospitals do rent number of government hospitals and doctors are not enough to not indulge in unethical or illegal practices, it becomes impossible to cater the large population while the private hospitals are out of reach differentiate between these and the less scrupulous ones. The Word for lower or middle class patients. of mouth is not enough to make clear distinctions. Pakistan is ranked 149th out of 179 countries in 2015 on the Ma - But there is more to it than that. When each specialist is visited, ternal Mortality Ratio Index. The healthcare blueprint needs in - they order a panel of tests to be done before they will even start talk - creased funding and efficient cross-sector linkages. ing of treatment. According to UNICEF, despite significant improvements over the Hospitalisation is sometimes the only option left if you want a team past two decades, Pakistan ranks AT the bottom among other coun - of doctors to examine the patient holistically. But even that is not tries when it comes to infant and neonatal mortality. easy. Getting admitted into a private hospital is costly and even there There is a need to keep democratic institutions strong. The three- you are placed under the care of a particular doctor. It may not be tier approach should be switched with a four-tier approach, with the easy to get other specialists to come and visit. 4th pillar being preventive healthcare. This is a very wide branch but More importantly, even if they do, they still diagnose and prescribe if launched, could do wonders in our healthcare system. Furthermore, in isolation. There is no primary doctor who coordinates with other there should be strict penalties for wrongdoings. A procedure for specialists or looks at issues of medicinal interactions, the effects of proper investigation for such cases should be set and punishment one treatment on another, and so on. It comes down to the patient should be applied accordingly. Moreover, every person of medical himself/herself or to the family of the patient to coordinate between field must have defined duties whether they are a doctor, pharmacist doctors. But they have no way of knowing medicinal or treatment in - or any other paramedical staff. The PMDC and DRAP must awake teractions. from slumber. SOPs must be followed so that cases, like Nishwa, can There are too many cases in Pakistan that one hears of where be prevented.
May 16-31, 2019 19 Digital marketing Constraints in IT industry of Pakistan
Changezi Sandhu
Digital marketing is a field of Information Technology that is ruling the business houses through different types of campaigns. Under the aegis of globalization, e-commerce and liberal economic values have clinched the world. Woodrow Wilson was the American president who whipped up the leading economic powers to adapt and adopt the low tariff and tariff-free trade some decades ago. Later innovative ideas erupted in the field of IT which motivated the world to shift their economic activities on online interaction by promoting distance interaction using IT. That is the reason that most of business activities are arranged and done online in the contemporary era. Most of jobs, lives, activities and business have become digitalized in the present-day world. Lives of human beings have become automated. Even online marketing that is also known as e-commerce under the um - brella of scientific revolution has occupied a significant place. Even IT houses have been set up in the countries which are contributing im - mensely to the world economy such as the UAE, the US, the UK and others. According to the findings of Research Consultancy global Information Technology is expected to reach $5 trillion in 2019. United States of can be traced easily back to culture and societal norms of the land that America is the leading and largest technical market in the world that is negate and threaten professionalism. “Saith culture” or “feudal culture” representing approximately 31% of the total. Round about $1.6 trillion can be examined in the houses. The culture leads to depressed official will be generated from the industry by the US in 2019. Not only in the environment that dissatisfies employees as well as their working capac - US, but also in other parts of the world, governments are facilitating the ity to attain a target. IT industry to compete international marketing services to boost up their On state level, the government never gives priority to the IT industry economy by empowering their national companies. However, the boot in practical ways. Even, the Information Technology Ministry is usually is on the other leg in Pakistan as the IT industry got trapped in the quag - headed by a person who lacks IT knowledge with zero background of mire of knotty challenges. The industry never got much attention of the field. Neither any government has to announced a national IT policy rulers to meet to the international standards to back up their economy nor encouraged the companies with grants or special incentives. Lack because of a number of technical, educational, and systematic issues. of intellectual property protection, legal framework for ecommerce, tech - These issues are the primary barriers and constraints in the way of IT nology parks and incubators are the motivational factors in the decline revolution or development in the country. of the industry. Even, the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has The Pakistani Information Sector occupies only 1% of the total global failed to present any strategy for the IT sector. IT industry. More than 5,000 IT companies have been registered in the The poverty rate is increasing with the passage of time in the country. country. However, most of the companies are unable to meet their Unemployment is escalating as the time passes. Even, IT graduates are pledges and expected growth because of a number of administrative, unable to find appropriate jobs in their field. IT is a vast industrial sector technical and industrial issues. Higher management is more committed that could be beneficial to ramp out poverty to much extent by producing to extracting its financial interests by formulating polices which exploit jobs. It is a technical field that relies on skills but not on degrees. Thus, employees, in fact, as warned by Karl Marx. Inadequate knowledge the government should take measures to support IT companies, make about management, dictatorial psychic patterns, within the team leg- a legal framework for satisfaction of employees to save them from un - pulling, distrust of employees, and ineffective lower management are ethical polices of the management, and engage youngsters in IT fields. the mostly prevailed causes of decline of the IT industry in Pakistan on Management of existing IT companies should also professionalize their organizational level. office environment by giving respect to employees. International stan - Mostly IT houses in Pakistan are devoid of professionalism. The dards of professional ethics should be followed by liberating themselves roots of the policies which are implemented on IT or software houses from the shackles of traditional mentality of humiliation and exploitation.
20 May 16-31, 2019 Initiative Belt and Road Forum opportunities
Changezi Sandhu
The socio-economic and political dynamics of the world have changed. A shift in regional politics on the base of widespread economic agreements can be observed for many years. In fact, regional and in - ternational politics is being played under the aegis of economic cooper - ation with the countries which have common stacks in regional and global arena. That is the reason; countries are engaging themselves in trade and commerce by adopting liberal economic values. China also introduced such steps toward economic prosperity, and the Belt and Road Initiative is one of them that were launched five years ago. The first BRF was arranged in 2017 in which participants pledged to work together for mu - tual interests by advancing transportation, upgrading infrastructure of communication, backing up people-to-people contact through cultural zations signed documents with China. Cooperation contracts of round exchange programs, and harmonizing economic interests, trade and in - about US$64 billion were signed by different countries, organizations vestment cooperation. That is, in fact, a joint economic venture for the and CEOs of mega companies. China also signed more than 100 mul - purpose of a shared future of mankind. Establishing high quality goals tilateral and bilateral cooperation documents. of development regionally and globally was the foundational ground of The ideal strategic location of Pakistan and the CPEC have raised the Belt and Road Forum that is extended in the Second Belt and Road its importance for China in more economic development ways. No Forum but with new dimensions and wider perspectives by engaging doubt, both countries are all-weather friends. That is the reason; Prime large stockholders of international community. Minister Imran Khan was not only invited to attend the forum but also Similarly, Pakistan has signed the China Pakistan Economic Corridor welcomed warmly and enthusiastically. He delivered important speeches (CPEC) with China. The CPEC is an important part of One Border One in an open ceremony and the Round Table Summit of the forum that is Road project that has been launched by China. Initially, $46 billion was really a honour for Pakistan. Industrial cooperation, fighting collectively its original value. Later the total amount was extended by including some against climate change, waging war against poverty through boosting other projects of development. up economic engagements from both sides, reviving tourism and liveli - OBOR has opened a door of opportunities in which countries from hood corridor, and embarking on anti-corruption drive expanding free different continents are becoming part. Recently, China hosted the Sec - trade and investment were the core mutually exchanged fields of coop - ond Belt and Road Forum in Beijing to enhance economic cooperation eration. by engaging the international community. The Second Belt and Road Leaderships of both sides pledged to the goals in more practical Forum for International cooperation was successfully organized in which ways so that the common people may enjoy fruits of the forum to allevi - more than 40 leaders and heads of international organizations were in - ate their basic economic and social issues. They agreed to 14 cooper - vited. More than 6,000 representatives from 150 countries participated ation initiatives related to transportation, intellectual property, in the forum. environmental protection, technology, disaster management coopera - Under the aegis of “Belt and Cooperation; shaping a brighter shared tion, postal services, and many more. future“, the participants shared their in-depth views and expert opinion It is a great opportunity for Pakistan to modernize its IT field. We lag to sew up defined multiple regions with giant economic engagements behind other countries in the field of technology because of prevailing by shedding light on the future prospects of the junction of projects. All non-professional norms, “saith culture” that is entrenched in our land of the participants developed a common narrative about priorities, prin - roots, lack of funds, insufficient technological parks, and digital market - ciples and mechanism to make the plans successful for social and eco - ing houses. So, it will help to create jobs for skilled youngsters by getting nomic welfare of different regions by boosting up their economic rid of poverty. Pakistan should streamline the signed contracts and development. MOUs in a smooth and practical way to enjoy more and more fruits from The most important and inspiring aspect is the implementation of the the commitments of the forum. It will not only forge relations between agenda of the forum on the spot how much it was possible by signing China and Pakistan, but our major economic and IT issues would also contracts and MOUs. Over 127 countries and 29 international organi - be addressed, too.
May 16-31, 2019 21 Your View
It could happen to you Embassy in the UAE
I went to collect my blood test reports from the Aga Khan Laboratory I WRITE this with a heavy heart and would like to raise the Specimen Collection Unit on Khayaban-i-Sehar in Phase 6, DHA. As I issue with the prime minister and the foreign ministry. The parked my car in front of the lab and stepped out, very heavy and sharp embassy of Pakistan in Abu Dhabi is chaotic. Not only is tiles hit my head from a worn-out building next to the lab. I started bleed - there no space to move around, the people have no concept ing and shouted for help. The security guards of the lab came out and of queuing for their turn. On the first floor there is a small told me to sit in the car as the tiles kept falling on my head. I begged the room to get your picture taken and the same room is used for guards to tell someone inside the lab to call an ambulance or take me to data entry. When you open the door it is like you’re going to hospital. But they went inside and closed the door. I have an Aga Khan get trapped in a stampede. Is this how we want to serve our medical card for 32 years and am their regular cardiac patient. I have all people outside the country? I suggest that a token system my blood tests done at their lab. What a shame for this inhuman behav - should be introduced to ensure there is no overcrowding. For iour. I was visiting their lab and I strongly believe it was their responsibil - the picture, they could use the waiting area space on the first ity to immediately rush me to hospital. In a helpless excessive bleeding floor and separate it from data entry area. I urge someone condition, I drove to a close by store and asked for help to take me to from our foreign ministry to visit the embassy of Pakistan in hospital. People gathered but did not come forward to help. How could Abu Dhabi and go through the process themselves before they be so inhuman? This accident could happen with anybody. Finally a making changes. driver (an angel sent by Allah) took me to DHA Medical Centre where I Anonymous was given medical aid and rushed to a hospital in an ambulance. I was Abu Dhabi handled very professionally by the hospital emergency staff and admit - ted. I had critical head injuries and I am still under treatment at the hospi - tal’s neurology department. I request the Aga Khan hospital’s Peshawar BRT management to investigate this incidence and inform me and its patients about their policy in this regard. Have they instructed their lab staff to be - I AM a resident of Peshawar, the business hub of Khyber have so ruthlessly with patients visiting them? Does the Aga Khan hospi - Pakhtunkhwa. My city was known as the city of flowers, but now it re - tal ensure that their lab surrounding constructions are safe for the life of sembles a post-apocalyptic battleground with construction and dust patients visiting them? The labs should be located in safe places. People everywhere. There is a cloud of dust hovering above our heads. And should also have some compassion and ethical values of life. there is only one culprit, the BRT. The bus rapid transit system has not Shamim Sagheer been managed properly and, because of this, the entire city is suffer - Karachi ing. Many people have developed asthma and allergies while others claim business has gone down. I appeal to the provincial government Polio-free Pakistan to quickly finish the work so that we can get on with our lives. Faisal Nisar ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan is one of Peshawar two countries that are still fighting the crippling poliovirus. The other country, is our neighbour, Afghanistan. Polio, also called poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. In about 0.5 per cent of cases RCD road there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. Several accidents have occurred on the Karachi to Quetta RCD Our government is trying its best to combat the illness with regular Road owing to lack of space on the road. Because of this, vehi - polio drives, despite threats to polio workers and the security per - cles lose their balance and collide with other vehicles while over - sonnel who accompany them. taking. Several people have lost their lives. Many families are reluctant to vaccinate their children owing to per - ceived religious reasons. The Peshawar videos which went viral Besides, many drivers are without a licence. To make matters last month created some problems as well as people did not know worse, drivers use mobile phones while driving. Another reason who to believe. for accidents is speeding. Our people, I am sad to say, are very gullible and lack awareness. The government should widen the Karachi to Quetta RCD Road They believe in rumours and do not understand science or reason. to save people’s lives. Baqar Hassan Abidi Faisal Sana Karachi Wadh, Balochistan
22 May 16-31, 2019 ROUND UP
Our guide to keeping you updated on the latest news and reviews from around the world
Movies, Books, Science, Health 01 Science
Here’s what causes the Excavations show hunter-gatherers lived in aurora-like glow the Amazon more than 10,000 years ago
Maria Temming Bruce Bower
We’re one step Hunter-gatherers occu - closer to under - pied the southwestern standing the myste - Amazon rainforest by rious atmospheric around 10,600 years ago light show called — at least several thou - STEVE. sand years earlier than previously thought. Short for Strong Thermal Emission Excavated food re - Velocity Enhance - mains and human burials at several locations in Bolivia support a scenario ment, STEVE is an unusual type of sky glow that appears closer to the in which hunter-gatherers regularly occupied those spots for large parts equator than auroras. Unlike the shimmery green ribbons that make up of the year. The unearthed evidence also indicates that the hunter-gath - the northern lights, STEVE consists of a mauve band of light that erers were living in the southwestern Amazon until around 4,000 years stretches east to west, sometimes accompanied by a row of vertical green ago, anthropological archaeologist José Capriles of Penn State University stripes called the picket fence. Analysis of celestial photos and satellite and colleagues report in Science Advances. If hunter-gatherers devel - data reveals that heated atmospheric particles produce STEVE’s mauve oped a preference for living in one place for months at a time, that may ribbon, while electron showers from space create the picket fence, re - have led to the rise of farming societies in the southwestern Amazon searchers report in Geophysical Research Letters. around 2,500 years ago, the scientists speculate. Capriles’ team focused on three small, forested mounds of earth located in dry grasslands that Citizen scientists have been snapping pictures of STEVE events for flood during rainy months. The researchers uncovered deposits of burned years, but only now are scientists beginning to understand the atmos - clay and wood bits likely produced by fireplaces of some kind, snail shells pheric conditions that create these sky glows, says Don Hampton, a and bones of fish and small mammals. Skeletons of five people buried at space physicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who wasn’t involved the three sites were also found. Radiocarbon dating places the ages of in the study. Learning more about such atmospheric processes may help these graves at around 6,250 years old or more. researchers anticipate the effects of space weather on satellite signals, he says. As a drier climate took hold between roughly 8,000 and 5,500 years ago, hunter-gatherers in the southwestern Amazon may have intensified their Space physicist Yukitoshi Nishimura of Boston University and colleagues occupations of campsites near patchy, seasonal wetlands for part of the analyzed data from satellites that passed near two STEVE events in 2008 year. By interring some of their dead at those sites, foraging communities and 2016. These satellites observed particles and electromagnetic waves may have claimed that valuable property and nearby wetland resources in the atmosphere and near-Earth space. as theirs, the team suspects.
May 16-31, 2019 23 02 Health
Loss of smell may be a sign death is close
Dennis Thompson
They say the nose knows, but can a loss of smell signal impending death? Possibly, researchers say.
They discovered that a poor sense of smell was associated with a nearly 50% higher risk of death within the next decade for adults older than 70. While the study didn't prove cause and effect, that association is enough to make some experts wonder whether seniors' sense of smell should be tested alongside their other vital signs. "I would not be surprised if some - day the sense of smell was included as a simple checkup, to see if this important human sense is affected," said senior researcher Dr. Honglei Chen, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State Uni - versity. As many as 1 in 4 aging Americans suffers a loss in their sense of smell, researchers said in background notes. Further, research has linked the loss of an ability to smell to your risk of neurodegenerative dis - orders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and some de - mentias, Chen said.
But Chen and his colleagues suspected that sense of smell might have sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. broader health implications for seniors than just a predisposition to brain "We notice when our vision is changing. There's some evidence when our conditions. So they analyzed data from nearly 2,300 adults between the hearing is changing. But what studies have shown is there is a sizable ages of 71 and 82 who were tracked as part of a larger health study. Partic - discrepancy between people's report of their sense of smell functioning ipants took a brief smell identification test as part of a battery of health ex - versus their actual scores on objective testing," Kamath said. "There's a aminations. They then were tracked for about 17 years, to see what illnesses sizable number of adults who have an unawareness of olfactory (sense might affect them. It's unusual for seniors to have their sense of smell tested, of smell) loss." Kamath wrote an editorial accompanying the study. Both said Vidyulata Kamath, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Skipping breakfast a bad move for your heart? E.J. Mundell
Think breakfast isn't the most important meal of the Imam, who wasn't involved in the new study. He di - day? Think again, say researchers behind a new rects cardiothoracic surgery at Staten Island Uni - study that found the risk of heart-related death rises versity Hospital in New York City. dramatically for folks who skip the morning repast. More Americans than ever are opting out of a Compared to people who always ate breakfast, morning meal, Bao and his team noted. "There those who say they never did had a 87% higher has been an increasing prevalence of skipping odds of dying from heart-related causes, according breakfast over the past 50 years in the United to a study that tracked the health of 6,550 Ameri - States, with as many as 23.8% of young people cans for about 20 years. The odds for stroke, in skipping breakfast every day," they said. How particular, were especially elevated if people said might that affect long-term heart health? To find they always skipped breakfast. These individuals out, Bao and colleagues tracked the death rates had more than three times the odds of fatal stroke, of 6,550 Americans ages 40 to 75, starting in 1988 compared to people who said they always ate in and ending by 2011. They found that about 16% the a.m. Why is skipping breakfast such a toxic said they ate breakfast either "never" or "rarely." habit? Researchers led by Dr. Wei Bao of the Uni - After adjusting for race, age and gender, always versity of Iowa said there could be many reasons. leagues said. Holding back on breakfast might also skipping breakfast raised the odds for death from Most notably, skipping breakfast is tied to a boost affect other hormonal processes that could help any cause by 19%, the study found, and by 87% in appetite later in the day, which "might lead to raise blood pressure, they said. Finally, waiting too for deaths tied to heart events such as heart attack overeating later," the research team said. Chronic late in the day to begin eating has also been linked or stroke. The findings were published in the Jour - overeating could bring on obesity. to a worsening of cholesterol, the research team nal of the American College of Cardiology. Of said. One heart expert agreed it's healthier to eat course, the study couldn't prove cause and effect. Insulin sensitivity -- a hormonal factor that's linked something soon after rising. "It has been well-doc - But another cardiologist who reviewed the results to obesity and diabetes -- is also impaired when the umented that eating a complete breakfast leads to said the findings make sense, especially when it morning "fast" lasts too long, Bao and his col - better cardiovascular health," said Dr. Mohammad comes to the risk for obesity.
24 May 16-31, 2019 03 Film
Ash is Purest White Irene’s Ghost Simran Hans Cath Clarke
Qiao is a coalminer’s daughter With this intimate, painful and from Shanxi, northern China rather lovely family history doc - (played, in a riveting perform - umentary, film-maker Iain Cun - ance, by Zhao Tao, director Jia ningham turns detective to Zhangke’s wife and muse). A discover the truth about his gangster’s moll, she holds court mum, Irene. As a child in the among the men in the back room Midlands, he was told that of a mahjong parlour, spending she’d slipped into a coma and five years in prison after taking the fall for boyfriend Bin (Liao Fan). died. His dad remarried and it was an unwritten family rule that no one men - tioned Irene. So Cunningham grew up with part of his identity missing. He Yet upon her release, she finds herself unceremoniously dumped. Qiao’s didn’t see a photograph of his mum until he was 18, but imagined her pres - grit sustains her; when a petty thief steals her wallet, she scams her way ence everywhere. She was in the dandelions he chased or a cat crossing into a wedding buffet and swindles cash from lusty, gullible men. But the street. she’s crippled by this tenacity, too, fighting for Bin against her best inter - ests. Her love for him burns at a high temperature; like the volcanic ash After advertising in the local paper, he interviews Irene’s friends and family. referred to in the film’s title, it’s “made pure”. Jia adopts a tripartite struc - In front rooms in Nuneaton, he is made endless cups of tea by funny, down- ture, beginning in 2001, jumping to 2006 and concluding in 2018. His to-earth women with kind eyes: aunts, cousins and bridesmaids from the last film, Mountains May Depart, followed a similar trajectory but lost its pages of the wedding album, 40 years older. Irene did not go into a coma. footing in the final segment. This one hits its stride somewhere in the She worked in a factory, met Iain’s dad at a dance, got married, bought a middle, bounding confidently towards its hopeless, poetic conclusion. At house, had a baby. Then something went terribly wrong. Nervously, Cun - one point, a UFO appears; the scope and scale of Jia’s vision stretches ningham approaches his father, who stiffens defensively. In old photos, Irene beyond cruel realism. As the country undergoes social, political, eco - smiles shyly. She was “quiet and artistic”, says one relative. nomic and ecological transformation, he asks how an old model of being can survive, suggesting that the jianghu, or outlaw, spirit might be the One can’t say exactly what happened to her, but the tragedy of it is that thing that persists. today she’d have had every chance of recovery. The film is a love letter to Irene, yet the emotional balance finally tips to Cunningham’s dad – ending with an unexpectedly tender moment between the two men. Eighth Grade Mark Kermode Tolkien Accepting his directorial debut award from the National Board of Peter Bradshaw Review in January, “internet co - A sweet innocence and median” turned film-maker Bo high-mindedness pervade Burnham described his brilliantly this movie from screenwrit - empathetic first feature as “an at - ers David Gleeson and tempt to represent the kids who Stephen Beresford and the live their lives online”; youngsters Finnish director Dome who have been “mischaracterised as self-obsessed, narcissistic, shallow”, Karukoski. It’s about the but who are actually “self-conscious”. early life of JRR Tolkien – who, like CS Lewis, be - Listed by Barack Obama as one of his favourite films of 2018, Eighth Grade came a staggeringly successful author but remained an unworldly Ox - has prompted much soul-searching discussion about the plight of “gener - ford don to the end of his days, never dreaming of the kind of ation Z” – the post-millennials whom Burnham astutely identifies as having mega-celebrity and super-wealth that writers such as JK Rowling or been “forced by a culture they did not create to be conscious of themselves George RR Martin enjoy. at every moment”. Yet for all its razor-sharp cultural accuracy (it’s clearly made by a film-maker who has listened to his young subjects), the real ge - Nicholas Hoult plays the doe-eyed young John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, nius of Eighth Grade is its universality – an honesty and compassion that an orphaned boy at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, with a brilliant cut across generational boundaries. As Burnham proves, if you get the facility for languages who makes three good friends there (his “fellow - specifics right, the generalities will take care of themselves. Rising star ship”) and falls shyly in love with the young woman at his boarding Elsie Fisher is astonishingly natural as Kayla, a socially anxious 13-year- house, Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), but who is forced by his Catholic old approaching the end of middle school. Crushingly voted “most quiet” guardian into choosing between early marriage and going up to Oxford. in class, Kayla struggles to connect with her peers in person, passing in si - lence through the corridors of her school. Yet Kayla has a second life on - The story is told via flashbacks from his soldier’s existence at the line, where she posts cute selfies and self-help videos on “Being Yourself” Somme in 1916, worrying about his schoolroom comrades and agonis - and “Putting Yourself Out There”. ing over the love he might have lost.
May 16-31, 2019 25 04 Books
Talking to Strangers Big Sky Paul Auster Kate Atkinson
Beginning with a short philosophical medita - Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet sea - tion written when he was twenty and conclud - side village, in the occasional company of his ing with nine political pieces that take on such recalcitrant teenage son and an ageing issues as homelessness, 9/11, and the link Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-part - between soccer and war, the 44 pieces gath - ner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something ered in this volume offer a wide-ranging view darker lurking behind the scenes. Jackson’s of celebrated novelist Paul Auster's thoughts current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful hus - on a multitude of classic and contemporary band for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard- writers, the high-wire exploits of Philippe Petit, issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate how to improve life in New York City (in col - man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinis - ter network and back across the path of laboration with visual artist Sophie Calle), and ― the long road he has traveled with his beloved someone from his past. Old secrets and new manual typewriter. While writing for the New lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and sur - York Review of Books and other publications in the mid-1970s, young poet prising writers at work today. Auster gained recognition as an astute literary critic with essays on Laura Riding, John Ashbery, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, and oth - ers. By the late seventies and early eighties, as the poet was transforming Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel himself into a novelist, he maintained an active double life by continuing Ruth Hogan his work as a translator and editing the groundbreaking anthology, The Random House Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry. His prefaces to some Tilly was a bright, outgoing little girl who liked playing of these books are included in Talking to Strangers, among them a heart- with ghosts and matches. She loved fizzy drinks, wrenching account of Stéphane Mallarmé's response to the death of his swear words, fish fingers and Catholic churches, but eight-year-old son, Anatole. most of all she loved living in Brighton in Queenie Mal - one's magnificent Paradise Hotel with its endearing and loving family of misfits - staff and guests alike. But Becoming Tilly's childhood was shattered when her mother sent Michelle Obama her away from the only home she'd ever loved to boarding school with little explanation and no warning. In a life filled with meaning and accom - Many years later, Tilda has grown into an independ - plishment, Michelle Obama has emerged ent woman still damaged by her mother's unaccount - as one of the most iconic and compelling able cruelty. Wary of people, her only friend is her dog. But when her mother women of our era. As First Lady of the dies, Tilda goes back to Brighton and with the help of her beloved Queenie United States of America - the first sets about unravelling the mystery of her exile from The Paradise Hotel, only African-American to serve in that role - to discover that her mother was not the woman she thought she knew at all. she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a pow - erful advocate for women and girls in the Return of the Spirit U.S. and around the world, dramatically Tawfiq Al-Hakim changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and First published in Arabic in 1933, Egyptian play - standing with her husband as he led wright and novelist Tawfiq Al-Hakim's Return of America through some of its most har - the Spirit follows a patriotic young Egyptian and rowing moments. Along the way, she his extended family as they grapple with the showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two events leading up to the 1919 Egyptian revolution. down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. Though often cited as an apprenticeship novel in the vein of Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Young Man with a touch of failed romance a la Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences Goethe's Sorrow of Young Werther, Al-Hakim's that have shaped her - from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to classic is most recognized for being a trailblazing her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, political novel that illustrates the way one man's to her time spent at the world's most famous address. With unerring honesty spiritual awakening ties to a political awakening of a nation. While enthusi - and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both asm for the book was stifled in the mid-20th century due to a shift in Egyptian public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it - in her own words government rule, the 2011 Tahrir revolution in Egypt caused it to be exam - and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply ined anew as a strong expression of nationalist solidarity and an exposé of personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily de - the heritage-stripping power of Western colonialism that resonates with 21st- fied expectations - and whose story inspires us to do the same. century Egyptians.
26 May 16-31, 2019 Horoscope
Aries (Mar 21-Apr 19) Leo (Jul 23-Aug 22) Sagittarius (Nov 22-Dec 21) Be cautious handling tools, machinery, or Make changes in your domestic scene. You You will have the getup and go to con tribute dangerous objects. You're in the mood to can make new friends and get involved in new a great deal to groups of interest. You can party. You may need to make a choice. hobbies successfully. Make sure that you have meet new friends who will let you know just You need time to put your house in order all the pertinent information before any how valuable you are. Don't forget that your and sort out what you are going to do reprisals or making any moves. Accommodate budget is limited right now. It won't take about your personal direction. Your lucky others but not before you do your own thing. much to upset your lover. Your lucky day this day this week will be Wednesday. Do the proper safety checks before you go out. week will be Wednesday. Your lucky day this week will be Monday.
Taurus (Apr 20-May 20) Virgo (Aug 23-Sep 22) Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 19)
Be considerate and avoid being overly Travel and communications will not run as Be sure to question any detail that you feel opinionated, or arguments will ensue. Try smoothly as you had hoped. Try not to be could leave you in a precarious position at a not to be too harsh with loved ones; there too harsh with loved ones; there will always later date. Catch up on your reading and cor - will always be two sides to an Issue. Some be two sides to an Issue. Your ability to see respondence. Do not let lovers cost you of that extra energy you have stored up other people's points of view will allow you money or take advantage of you. You may might just be put to good use. You can to come to reasonable agreements. Your want to make drastic changes concerning pick up some overtime this week. Your lucky day this week will be Friday. your personal partner. Your lucky day this lucky day this week will be Wednesday. week will be Monday.
Gemini (May 21-June 20) Libra (Sep 23-Oct 22) Aquarius (Jan 20-Feb 18) You might find added popularity with those You can make major decisions regarding your Take a second look; difficulties with appli - around you this week. Refrain from arguing professional direction. Don't believe everything ances, water, or electricity in your home may with your mate. You might find it difficult to you hear. It might be best to spend time fixing be evident. Plan to visit friends or relatives. control your emotions. Deal with the needs up your premises and making changes that will Don't blow situations out of proportion or you of children. Your lucky day this week will be be appreciated. You may have some difficulties could find that others will misinterpret what Monday. with someone you live with. Your lucky day this really happened. Love can be heightened if week will be Sunday. you sit down and discuss your future plans. Your lucky day this week will be Wednesday.
Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) Scorpio (Oct 23-Nov 23) Pisces (Feb 19-Mar 20)
Don't let other people meddle in your private Call someone you haven't seen in a long time. You can make money if you work on personal affairs. Listen to the complaints of others. You You may find yourself in the midst of a pretty investments. Your dramatic nature may be too don't want to give anyone fuel for the fire. De - good deal. You can make personal changes much to handle. Travel opportunities look pos - velop some of your good ideas. Your lucky day that will enhance your reputation and give you itive, but be cautious while driving. Don't take this week will be Friday. greater self confidence. You can make new your frustrations out on loved ones. Your lucky friends who could turn into intimate connections day this week will be Saturday. if you join clubs or take creative courses.Your lucky day this week will be Wednesday.
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